Monster
by MsKtK
Summary: This night was supposed to be about the girls, because they were all sick of the men in their lives. Levy thought she was going to forget about her troubles, but the only way to do that is by getting herself into a different kind of a trouble. She is in the sights of a monster, should she be terrified, aggressive,... or excited? Mostly Gajevy, slight LuLo. Possible sexual content.
1. Weight

**IMPORTANT INFO:** First of all this is an alternative universe fic, where the characters are not mages and they are also a little older and live in a more modern day society. Think early twenties as Levy, Lucy and Cana are almost finished with college. This is also mostly going to be Gajeel x Levy fic, but I will also be including LuLo in honor of my fellow writer friend Crimsonwolfko. There's mention of Lucy having feelings for Natsu, but there isn't plans of NaLu being included(right now), so Nalu shippers you've been warned.

I have this fic basically mapped out up to a certain point, this point may be where I decide to end it unless people wish me to try and continue it. So basically a 'could be the ending' kind of thing. So I don't have plans for this to be a very long story like my other Gajevy fic Iron Gray (which I haven't updated in forever. I'm not dead by the way and I promise it's not over). In fact originally it was going to be a one shot, but I feel it's too long for that at least. I've had these first pages sitting on my pc for forever too, so I decided why not finally post 'that thing I wrote'.

Lastly this fic may end up being more graphic, sexual and just a lot darker overall than my other story. Not sure exactly how far it will go, it's kind of an 'experiment' for myself. Thus the high rating, not usually my style honestly. Should be interesting, I promise to keep it entertaining and tasteful though to the best of my abilities.

Also be warned there may be errors, as much as I've toiled over this thing, I'm sure I still missed stuff.

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><p><strong>Monster<strong>

**Chapter 1: Weight**

They had come to this club to escape the pressures of the senior semester. They wanted to relax and have a good time, but most of all they wanted to get away from men. At least that had been the plan seeing as all three girls were fed up with the ones in their lives. Cana had, had it with her father who had disappeared once again without so much as a word to her.

As important and influential as Gildarts was it seemed like he never took anything seriously. His name was one of the most well known in Magnolia, because he was both a former hero and entrepreneur of the town along side an old man by the name of Makarov. The two of them had even opened up the town's university together, but Gildarts had grown bored of the businessman life style. It had never really suited his taste to begin with, but he hadn't anything better to do well in recovery after losing his leg. That and he had managed to come across a lot of money after being injured in action. Now that he was fully recovered and had adjusted to his new limb he spent his days traveling in the name of charity as a means to escape it all.

He had basically left Makarov to deal with all of their business dealings and as for Cana? Well he hadn't known at first he had a daughter, but once he found out he made sure that she was well taken care of.

He had actually given her, her own card with access to one of his many bank accounts as well as paid for all of her schooling as she attended the university him and Makarov had created. The only issue was Cana wanted more than to just be taken care of from him….

She wanted to actually spend time with the man she had always known was her father. Now that he knew the truth she had hoped things would be different, but it didn't seem that way as she one day discovered he had left again. He had taken nothing, but cash and the clothes on his back. He had left his small modest cabin open for her to stay in well he was gone, but… None of it filled the hole she felt inside and so this was why; This was why it had been her brilliant idea that the three of them have a girl's night, because Gildarts was funding it.

Levy and Lucy weren't really the 'partying' type, a fun evening for them usually consisted of reading or having a movie night together. Maybe sometimes they would go out, but not to the type of places Cana liked to frequent. They probably would have both backed out if they hadn't picked up on the fact that Cana was upset and so thus they didn't want to let her be alone. They were all friends and classmates after all, Cana had overheard the two best friends venting to each other one day well sitting in the school's small café between classes.

Lucy was also upset with her father as he continued to harass her about actually finishing her degree at Makarov's school, seeing as he wasn't a fan of the old man. Jude Heartfelia was another wealthy entrepreneur from another town and he found Master Makarov's unorthodox way of doing business degrading. He had refused to help Lucy financially, that included helping her pay for any of her schooling or signing any of her loans seeing as she had chosen a school he didn't approve of. He had hoped that that way she would do what he wanted, but his plan hadn't had the desired affect in the slightest. If anything it just drove Lucy even further to defy him by stirring some great ambition inside of her to prove she didn't need his money or approval to get what she wanted. She took out all her own loans and got any financial aid and scholarships she could. Not only that, but she worked her hands to the bone in an effort to survive and pay her way through school all on her own. All of this for three years, nearly four, and now that she was nearing graduation her father just wouldn't leave her be. Fighting her and arguing with her every chance he got, constantly calling, leaving her angry voicemails. It had left the poor girl who was already stressed out from finals and work completely burnt out.

All of this may have been all right, seeing as Lucy was used to her dad's negative attitude and could usually bounce back, but unfortunately he wasn't the only issue she was having with men right now. The other major problem that had been really eating at her was with her best friend Natsu Dragneel. Ever since he had started dating Lisanna Strauss, another student at their school for the past month, he never made time for her anymore. Now Lucy was somewhat understanding of this seeing as the two of them had finally gotten together after years of Natsu always liking the flaxen haired beauty; so in truth there was a large part of her that was very happy for him, for both of them, but at the same time she couldn't seem to help the fact that it still it hurt her as well. Especially right now when she needed his support more than ever, what with all the fighting she had been doing with her father. Natsu had always been the one she turned too whenever things with her father got this serious, but now it was like he couldn't spare her the time of day. Everytime she texted him he would say he was out with Lisanna, he would always apologize to her indicating he felt bad, but not enough to leave his new girlfriend's side to allow Lucy to lean on him. She was pretty torn up about the whole thing, but she tried to put on a brave front most of the time.

Levy had been able to see through this though as she was Lucy's best girlfriend. She had kind of figured out Lucy had feelings for Natsu that were beyond that of friendship a while back and so she knew the blond was heartbroken. After some clever wordplay she had managed to get the Lucy to confirm her suspicions that day at the café, but that also included the lengthily rant about her father as well. That had been the part Cana had overheard the two girls going on about when she approached them. It was, because of all this that Lucy had been the first one to jump on board with Cana's 'lets go out and forget about men' plan when she had flashed the two girls her shiny Gildart's signed credit card.

Levy had been a bit harder to convince even though she was no different with her current attitude about the opposite sex. Her issues stemmed from two very lovesick best friends who loved to argue and fight over her any chance they got, especially lately. Things were reaching a whole new level of crazy though, for the weekend prior they had actually made a scene in public on the quad, throwing punches at each other. Not only did they nearly get the cops called on them, but people had gotten the wrong impression of her now too. Levy had started to notice people looking at her funny ever since that day and whispering things, all suspecting her of leading both of them on or having some odd swinger relationship with the two of them.

Levy wasn't pleased with the attention at all, she preferred the quiet life style, but now everyone seemed to know who she was. Not only that, but it got much worst, guys had started approaching her with cheap pick up lines. The really suggestive kind that made it clear they were only after one thing as if they thought she was could be a quick notch on their belts. It had left poor Levy mortified and furious at Jet and Droy, the two friends responsible. She hadn't spoken to them all week, but it didn't stop them from following her around and begging for her forgiveness. As if only to make her more embarrassed by making it seem like everything people thought about the three of them was true. It was making her crazy, because she couldn't study in peace anymore! One day she had even had some guy sneak up behind her and slap her ass and then run away. That was probably one of the worst moments in her life, she had turned around red faced, but wasn't able to spot who it had been as they ducked away among the crowd of people, but she did hear the culprits laugher echoing somewhere behind her.

She knew it would all blow over eventually and people would forget, but as of now the harassment was making her life a living hell so if there was anytime a girl could be convinced to go out and get drunk it was probably right now.

Cana had promised Levy and Lucy she knew a great place where nobody from their school frequented so they would be safe from embarrassment with anyone who mattered. The girls had still been pretty uneasy about the whole plan, especially where Levy was concerned and weren't completely sold on it until Cana told them they would also be getting their nails done and would be buying new clothes for the occasion all courtesy of Gildarts money unbeknownst to him of course. It was hard to say no to that tall order especially when Cana was so convincing. She had somehow manipulated it to make it sound like they would be doing her old man a favor by accompanying her as she blew some of his money away.

That afternoon they had spent the whole day shopping, getting their nails done and even made time for a big lunch. Once all that was done they all went their separate ways returning back home to their individual apartments to waste time getting ready before they all met up again to go out.

Cana had agreed to let them use her car so long as Lucy agreed to be the one driving it, with plans of not being sober later unbeknownst to the other two girls. Lucy naively agreed taking possession of the keys and now here the three of them were at the club. Surrounded by moving bodies with bright neon colors bouncing off their faces in the dim lighting.

Well, really it was just the two of them, because Cana had already ditched Lucy and Levy for a crowd of men at the bar. The 'girls night' plan hadn't lasted more than twenty minutes; all Cana had said was that she was going to grab a drink and then she never came back to the dance floor. Leaving Levy and Lucy like two lost puppies in a sea of warm bodies, both of them clinging to each other among the crowded space as if they were each other's security blanket.

Levy had one of her hands gripping to Lucy's elbow and Lucy in return had her hand on Levy's shoulder. Both of them were tense as they attempted to dance amongst the overwhelming heat and smell of sweat, their bodies being pushed to and fro by the other dancers who didn't mind where they were going. The whole situation made both girls very uneasy and it didn't help that neither of them had touched a drop of alcohol since they arrived unlike the rest of the people dancing.

Finally one large tan shirtless body came crashing into Levy's back so hard it propelled her small frame forward. Luckily she ran into Lucy who caught the smaller girl before she completely lost her balance and hit the floor, but for Lucy this was the last straw, all of her patience had thinned. The blonds' brow lowered and her fist clenched, she moved Levy aside gently, before reaching up to the larger man who had crashed into her.

Her hand came slamming down on his shoulder, causing him to turn around with a confused look on his face. Lucy paused for a moment surprised by his odd appearance, almost forgetting to speak as he raised a dark thin eyebrow at her. It was his crazy hair that had caught her off guard; it was split into two colors, red on the left and white on the right. Once she got over the initial shock of that she quickly remembered how annoyed she was.

"Hey! What gives! You almost knocked over my friend-" The furious blond began to shout at him, pointing to Levy who stood there shyly, clearly looking embarrassed by the scene Lucy was creating. "With your mosh pitting or whatever the hell you were doing! Will you watch where you're going?!" Lucy finished, her tone only growing. The guy she was yelling at just blinked at her as if confused. His face was dripping with sweat and his eyes were bloodshot, it was clear he had been drinking. His mouth opened as Lucy gave him a death stare, but he didn't get a chance to say anything, because someone else decided to step in instead.

"Watch it bitch! I _know_ you're not talking to MY boyfriend like that!" A fierce woman's voice snapped as two pale arms suddenly wrapped around the tan man's tattooed bicep. Two dark angry blue eyes suddenly appeared from behind the man, the glare this woman shot Lucy more than rivaled her own angry stare. The taller woman had long light blue hair that stretched down to her waistline.

Lucy didn't seem intimidated, but Levy on the other hand was on the verge of sneaking away from the commotion, fearful of what might happen next. She didn't need another situation like the weekend before falling over her again and plus she hated conflict and fighting.

"Oh yes I was! He should watch where he's going! He nearly trampled my friend!" Lucy shouted as she pointed again at Levy who had slowly been slinking away, but then stopped. The tiny bluenette's face was growing red as the crowd that had formed around their small group thanks to Lucy's outburst turned their attention to her at that moment. The angry blue haired woman didn't remove her eyes from Lucy as she slowly let go of her boyfriend's arm so that she could step up closer to the shorter girl.

"Ya know what…. it's fine! Really, Lucy! I'm fine, we're fine, just let it go…" Levy started stuttering nervously as Lucy and the blue haired woman gave each other an intense stare down.

"Look blondie." The blue haired woman began, making Lucy's jaw drop in outrage. "I get that you're not from around here, but you don't want to mess with me." She finished her voice cold and deadly. Lucy stared into her dark blue eyes, sweat had formed on her brow and her fist were shaking at her sides out of both anger and some slight fear. This woman was… intimidating, for some reason, but she just couldn't quite grasp why. The blue haired woman smirked as she could see Lucy's resolve breaking under the tough exterior, at this point Levy had approached Lucy and was tugging on her arm.

"Come on.., Lucy…" Levy was mumbling as her eyes glanced around nervously. "Just let it go… I wanna take a break from dancing anyways…" The woman suddenly backed away some from Lucy's face and chuckled to herself arrogantly then she flipped a hand through her long hair as she turned her back to Lucy in a rather defiant action.

"That's right, listen to your friend. Walk away little girl, before you get hurt." At this Lucy was grinding her teeth, her anger making it too difficult for her to get any coherent sentences out.

"Why?! you!? I! I'ma! Gah!" The blond was spitting as she waved an arm at the blue haired woman's back. The woman just laughed again at the blonds' reaction and then she smirked at her from over her shoulder.

"Now go find yourself a man, maybe it will help with that attitude of yours." Lucy dropped her fist at this and stood there flabbergasted her feet no longer planted, allowing Levy to finally succeed in dragging her taller blond friend away.

"Hey!" Lucy began to shout as Levy continued to pull drag her away, finally getting her wits about her. "I don't need a man! Bitch!" She added just as the blue haired woman disappeared from view behind the crowd still dawning that same arrogant smirk. People were looking at them as Lucy's loud voice resounded in the air and her arms waved in anger, making Levy duck her head some as if to hide as she continued to drag her riled friend a safe distance away.

Finally Levy had managed to find a small clearing far away from the dance floor before she stopped walking. It was a lot less crowded in this area and people had finally stopped looking at them. Also the speakers were no longer right on top of them so now they could actually hear each other talk without having to yell. Levy let go of Lucy's wrist and turned towards her, letting out a breath. Lucy stood there looking defeated as she hung her head and arms. Levy glanced up at her friend sympathetically and reached a hand out to the blonds' shoulder.

"It's okay Lu." Levy chimed in cheerfully trying to lighten the mood, but all she earned was a disbelieving glare in return.

"How can you say that Levy? That guy nearly took you out!" Lucy replied making Levy just laugh modestly as Lucy stood up straight her arms folding grumpily.

"It's okay! You tried to defend me…" Levy let her hand tap Lucy's shoulder now. "That's what counts." She added with a large smile at the blond. Lucy let out an accepting breath at Levy's words.

"Yea… I guess… What a bitch that woman was! They were the ones in the wrong! Then the nerve of her telling me I need a man! That's the LAST thing I need right now! I'm sick of men!" The blond replied as if exasperated, Levy just smiled at her friend sorrowfully, before her eyes suddenly widened as if a thought just struck her. Levy's lips curled up deviously as she tapped Lucy's shoulder again causing the blonds' brown eyes to dawn her with an unsuspecting look.

"You have to admit though-" One of Levy's eyes closed and she winked cutely at Lucy as her sly smile grew into a full out grin. "Finding one here wouldn't be so bad!" Lucy just blinked at Levy for a moment taking in the girl's carefree smile; clearly Levy was joking… right?

"What're you... getting at Levy?" Lucy asked cautiously confused by the statement. At this question Levy's eyes rolled around the room slowly, as if she was trying to approach the subject innocently.

"Well… don't get me wrong." Her eyes landed back on Lucy. "I'm sick of men too, but at the same timmmmee." She responded dragging the last word out. " It wouldn't be so bad…" Now her words were coming out slow and hesitant and Lucy could see her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. "If… ya know… Just for tonight I mean… Just this once-" Again Levy's words were stuttering out and she was shaking her head and hands now. "Not any other time! Or ever again! Not ever ever again!" Her words coming out defensively before she even really could say anything. "Just ya know like a, a…"

"Spit it out Levy!" Lucy cried out with an eyebrow raised, as she was becoming impatient by Levy's hesitant build up.

"A hook up!" Levy finally spat her cheeks now going from pink to red at her own words. Lucy stared at Levy for a moment completely dumb founded, because she could see Levy had been playing it off as a joke at first, but she could sense that a small part of her was serious too. _A hook up?_ Once she got over the initial shock that Levy had actually said that to her, the idea of it began to take form in the blonde's head. This form consisting of eroticimages that began to bounce around Lucy's brain before she could even stop them and within seconds her face had become an even brighter shade of red than Levy's as her eyes averted upwards. "Uhhh… Lucy?" Levy questioned.

"Levy! What's gotten into you?!" Lucy suddenly snapped her eyes landing back on Levy, her face still red. At this reaction Levy couldn't help, but chuckle softly at her exasperated and embarrassed friend.

"Is it really all that crazy that'd I say that?" Levy asked her friend, her words now coming out normal. Lucy glanced at Levy puzzled, her face still red, but finally beginning to fade.

"Well… yea. That's just not you." Lucy said her voice calm now as Levy averted her eyes downwards, her face looked a bit sad, but she was still smiling weakly.

"You're right…" She glanced back up at Lucy who was now looking at her as if she was a bit concerned. "I'm just lonely is all." She stated honestly as she looked back down. "I haven't had a boyfriend in ages and I can't remember the last time I went on a date, let alone had sex… I kinda stopped keeping track as the months have gone by, what with school and all. It's kept me pretty busy and preoccupied… but… not enough to make me forget it all the time." She glanced up at Lucy her large doe eyes looking even sadder now. "I'm sorry that was a stupid thing to say."

Lucy could feel her heart crumbling into a ball at Levy's words, because she felt the exact same way as her friend. She reached a hand out and rested it on Levy's shoulder this time and shook her head.

"No, no it's not. I understand where you're coming from Levy."

"You do?"

"Yea… I haven't had a date in forever either… and it's not like I don't get asked or anything." Lucy took her hand back and let it run through her golden hair slowly and awkwardly. "I just… I don't know… I feel like maybe I always turn them down, because they're not what I'm looking for." Lucy paused for a moment her eyes looking off and even sadder. "It's like I make excuses for myself. This guy is too loud, this guy is too tall, this guy likes stuff I hate, ya know?" Her hand finally fell back down to her side limply as if defeated. "Stupid things like that, that don't even make sense. Then I tell myself I'll know when I find the guy I really want… but until then I'd like to skip over all this dating random people stuff. Save myself the heartache and pain of break ups and let downs and just get to the real thing." Lucy's chocolate eyes glanced back up at Levy who was watching her intensely hanging on the blonds' every word.

"Oh yea?" Lucy shook her head frustrated by her own musings as she revealed them to Levy.

"Yes!" She answered as if about to pull her hair out, "But the even dumber thing is I thought I did find him…! But it turns out… he loves someone else and always has! And now! Now! Now they're together! Happily, I might add..." Lucy finished her voice going soft now, as it was her turn to look forlorn as these sad thoughts began to consume her. Levy matched Lucy with her own sympathetic look this time.

"You really miss Natsu, huh?" The blue haired girl asked. The blond just nodded her head as she stared at her feet, before glancing back up.

"I feel so stupid Levy. I knew how he felt about her and yet it didn't stop me from falling for him, my best friend." She raised her hands again in frustration. "And here I am keeping myself from moving on… when I can't even spend time with him." She matched eyes with Levy again. "It's like I choose to put myself through this pain just so I can see him happy, but I won't let myself be." At this Levy looked down to the floor as she could feel tears threatening to spill at Lucy's sincere and sad confession, but she swallowed it down, determined to not break for Lucy's sake.

"Happiness is fleeting-" Levy spoke before bringing her head back up. "When you've got so much stress on your shoulders." She finished. Lucy looked back up at Levy and they both exchanged a certain look as they let it all sink in for a moment. Then Lucy suddenly tilted her head and squinted her eyelids at Levy.

"Say, I told you my reasons for not dating, but how come you don't? I mean… you can't tell me you don't get asked. I mean heck, I know you have been approached a lot this week… even if it was stressing you out, it still happened." Lucy suddenly asked as if the thought just occurred to her.

"Well… they weren't exactly asking me out." Levy stated flatly. "More like just implying that they wanted to have sex with me." She added. Lucy couldn't help, but smile awkwardly.

"Jeeze… It's really that bad, huh?" Lucy questioned as Levy smiled and looked to her feet before looking back up at Lucy with a sigh.

"Yea… It's okay though. I know it will blow over soon, but for the time being it sucks." Levy replied causing Lucy to giggle.

"If you're not interested in any of these guys who want to sleep with you then why are you talking about hooking up?! It doesn't make any sense!" Levy's cheeks flushed up again at Lucy's point blank question and her hazel eyes shifted around the room awkwardly for a moment before answering.

"Well it's just…" Levy's head bobbed, as did her feet as her eyes looked off in the distance. "I don't want anyone like that." As the words left her mouth she glanced back to Lucy's perplexed face and she could plainly see the blond didn't understand what she meant by that statement. She knew she needed to elaborate, but it was just hard to find the right words to explain it in a way that _could_ make sense. "What I mean is… I don't want anyone who has anything to do with my life right now." Lucy's eyes narrowed on Levy at the odd phrasing and her head tilted more in confusion.

"Okay… I don't think I'm quite grasping this all just yet… I know ya can't mean Jet and Droy." Levy bounced again on her heels as her anxiety was building and she shook her head.

"No I wasn't referring to them at all. You know where I stand with those two; they're like brothers to me, even if they don't feel that way." Levy retorted as she rolled her eyes, her mind drifting back to the incident and all the misery it had caused her. Yep, she was still quite irritated with her two best friends. She shook her head again in an attempt to get her mind off it as she tried once again to explain herself better to Lucy. "What I mean is I don't want anyone who is even _remotely _involved or related to my life." She glanced down at her hand and began naming fingers. "I don't want it to be someone I'm friends with, someone I work with, someone who even goes to our school. I don't even want it to be someone I share the bus with!" She exclaimed seriously. "That way it can never come back to haunt me. That way it could be one and done kind of deal and I won't have to worry about the repercussions of having to see that person again."

Lucy was staring at Levy as if she had grown a second head now; everything she was saying now made perfect sense with one major exception. It was Levy and she was saying… she wanted a one-night stand. None of that made any sense at all! Levy wasn't like that; she wasn't the type of girl who was just out for a good time. She was hard working, she was smart, she avoided conflict and trouble, she was a good girl who wanted love, not just sex. At least as far as Lucy had always known. What the hell was going on?

"Levy…?" Lucy uttered out. "Do you understand what you're saying?"

"Yes Lucy…" Levy answered her voice frustrated. "I'm saying I just want to have sex with someone, because I'm incredibly lonely and have given up on trying to find someone to be with. I've got way too much on my plate right now to try and be in a relationship anyways. I'm incredibly stressed out and in the mean time it would just be nice to feel somewhat satisfied." Levy ranted out suddenly almost as if she was annoyed. "I know the risk and such. I'm not stupid, but don't you worry Lucy, because I'm not going to do it anyways. We both know I don't have it in me to actually do any of it." Levy finished her frustration peaking.

"Whoa hang on Levy! I don't-" Lucy started saying, but Levy held up a hand.

"Just stop, it's fine." Levy said her voice going soft now, as she felt bad for getting so upset. "I understand you're just worried about me Lu, but I can take care of myself. I may say crazy things once in a while, but you know I'm not actually going to go through with any of my silly ideas." She said her tone normal now and her large eyes shined at the blond with unshed tears and Lucy could see the hopelessness there in them. "I'm sorry, it's just we're here… and..." Levy said looking around with her hands open and out before they fell back to her sides. "We don't know anyone on this side of town and…" She looked back to Lucy. "Well you know if I ever was going to do it… here and now, this would be the time and place to do it." Levy finished her eyes looking off and then she began to laugh bitterly leaving Lucy to just stare at her for a moment.

Lucy kind of felt guilty for judging Levy so harshly at that moment. Everything she was saying was really not all _that_ crazy, for anyone else at least. Cana did that kind of thing on a regular basis, it was just that she had never expected to hear anything like that come from Levy's mouth. But… alas there was a small part of her after hearing all of Levy's explanations that kind of agreed. A hot one night didn't sound so bad right now… even if she was sick of men.

"It's okay Levy." Lucy suddenly stated after a long pause as Levy still held the bitter smile. "We could all stand to get some action a little more often." Lucy suddenly stated making Levy now be the one to blink at Lucy. "And honestly, you're right!" The blond exclaimed as her hands went up. "We are in the right place to do it!" At this the tension between the two of them was starting to ease as she could see Levy starting to smile, her cute genuine smile. "I mean honestly some time you and I ought to take a page from Cana's book, am I right? What the hell is that girl reading anyways?" Lucy added with a large grin on her face finally earning a laugh from her smaller friend.

"I don't know, but I'm sure I've read it." Levy added jokingly and they both began to laugh lightly this time. It was at this point once Lucy's laughter died the blond began to glance around as if looking for someone.

"Say speaking of Cana… I wonder where she went off too?" The blond spoke, her words trailing off

"Oh yea!" Levy replied her head suddenly moving around as if she too was looking. "She's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Ya think maybe we should look for her now?" Lucy asked. There was a long pause as Lucy waited for Levy's response, her chocolate eyes shifting around in search of their misplaced friend. "Levy…?" Lucy finally glanced up at Levy as she realized the smaller girl wasn't listening to her anymore.

Levy was standing there stone faced, her hazel eyes looked uneasy as her eyebrows pushed together in worry. Her head and eyes were darting around as if she was also searching for something and she was… She just wasn't sure what it was. She had just had this odd feeling come over her that she couldn't quite explain, her chest felt heavy all of the sudden and Lucy was looking at her puzzled.

"Levy?" Lucy tried again finally pulling the smaller girl's attention back towards her as she saw Levy's eyes land on her finally. "You… alright?" Levy regarded her with a blank expression and wide eyes. She wasn't exactly sure how to answer the question, because she couldn't exactly explain the odd feeling she was suddenly having so instead she just nodded.

"Yea." She lied curtly. "I'm fine. Just… wondering where Cana is." She replied simply, as her eyes began to dart around the room once again. Lucy tilted her head and blinked not fully believing her, because of the way she had been acting this whole night, but she decided to just let it go this time. Her concern over Cana outweighing whatever it was, plus she didn't want upset Levy once again now that she seemed to be feeling somewhat better. "Okay… Yea ya know what? I'll just find her and then maybe we can get going. What do ya say?" This finally seemed to get Levy's attention as her eyes settled back on Lucy with a more serious look.

"You sure that's what you want?" Levy asked quickly her eyes glancing upwards again. Lucy shot Levy another odd perplexed look before just shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head.

"I don't know! I'm not having a whole lot of fun and I can tell…" Lucy's words began to trail off as her brow lowered in confusion. Levy seem to be staring at something, but what, she didn't know. "You aren't." The blond uttered the last words causing Levy to glance down suspiciously as Lucy obviously tried to look in the direction her peculiar friend was looking. She looked back at Levy with an eyebrow raised after blatantly trying to see what it was Levy had her eye on. "What is it?" Lucy finally staggered out confused. Levy matched her hazel eyes with Lucy's chocolate ones and narrowed them.

"Not sure… Don't worry about it." Levy answered this time not bothering to hide it.

"You seem worried though." Lucy stated and Levy just shook her head.

"No… I'm fine. Please don't end the night early on my account. It's not like we get to do this often." Levy spoke glancing back up at Lucy sympathetically. The blond rested her hands on Levy's shoulders and she looked at her sincerely.

"Levy you can tell me what's up and I promise you it's fine." She said with a smile. "I'm actually just sorry Cana and I dragged you out here with us." This made Levy's eyes shift back down sadly again.

"No it's okay Lu… I think I'm done talking for one night anyways. Pretty sure I've done enough of that to you this week." Levy stated laughing awkwardly with a weak smile as Lucy let go of her shoulders and let them slap her own sides as she rolled her eyes.

"Yea well, I kinda thought Cana would… ya know… hang out with us or something! Wish she had… then maybe we would be having more fun, ya know?" She said her voice dry before looking back at Levy with one last weak smile. "Maybe I should go check the bar? That's where she said she was going. What if she's in trouble or something?" At this Levy nodded in understanding.

"True, we should really try and find her. Maybe I'll go check the bathroom or something?" Levy asked, but Lucy just shook her head.

"Mmm…. Maybe you should just stay here." Lucy suggested her arms going out to Levy. "Don't get me wrong. I just don't want to lose you in this crowd. This place is huge and you're so small… At least if you stay put I'll know where to find you."

"I get what you're saying… I'll just wait here then." Levy replied.

"Okay! I promise I won't be long." Lucy stated as she began to walk away leaving Levy to watch the blonds' retreating back until the crowd swallowed her. "I'll be right back!" Was the last thing she could hear coming out of Lucy's mouth.

As soon as Lucy was gone Levy felt her whole body heave as if she was letting out a breath she had been holding in forever. Her eyes transfixed to the floor as the air left her lungs in a forlorn sigh that left her feeling almost lifeless in that moment. This night had been a mistake. The whole thing was just one big mess and now all she felt was guilt for spilling out all of her own frustrations with herself onto Lucy in the manner that she had. Especially when Lucy was going through her own troubles and it wasn't as if Levy hadn't already gotten her chance to vent to the blond. Hell, she had been ranting to Lucy all week about her issues seeing as she wasn't speaking to Jet and Droy; so then why again tonight, and about even worst things?

Levy was really wishing she could take back what she said about the one nightstand. She had initially said it as a joke, but at the same time it was something that had been on her mind. Poking at her subconscious every night she went to bed, keeping her from finding sleep to the point where she would need to go find a book to read, just to exhaust herself further.

It hadn't been anything she had planned on discussing with anyone, it was personal and she had planned on keeping that way. But she had been too bold in making that joke, because Lucy knew her to well. Lucy had been able to read the sincerity behind it and so Levy had been caught. Thus her frustrations came pouring out successfully ruining what was supposed to be a fun night and making her poor heartbroken friend feel sorry for her.

That hadn't been Levy's intentions; she hadn't been looking for sympathy, but she was just so sick of herself. She felt so lost when faced with the reality of her own situation, which was that she was never brave enough to go after what she wanted in life. That's what this all boiled down too and it was probably the whole reason she was alone, or at least that's what Levy thought.

Levy had always been careful. Getting hurt in the past relationships had only strengthened this trait in her and this carefulness she carried seemed to crawl over into other aspects of her life as well. She was very aware of how unlike Lucy and Cana she was. In her eyes her two friends were more successful at taking charge of their lives. Lucy was by not allowing her dad to hinder her choices in life and Cana always did what she wanted, consequences be damned! She never let anything stop her from going after what she wanted, even when getting the truth about her identity to her father.

Levy found these qualities in her friends admirable and she wished she could be more like them, but she just didn't seem to have the grit they did. She was small and this small frame of hers was like a metaphor for the way she lived her life. Lost among the crowd, outshined and overshadowed by those who were bigger than her. Careful and modest so that way she wouldn't misstep, because she couldn't withstand a fall like they could. She would end up shattering where as they would stay intact and so she needed to be clever to get by. She needed her wit to get her by, because this small frame made her weak. She always felt like she was reaching, struggling just to get by and earn her place among all the bigger people.

Levy could feel these hopeless thoughts cascading around her small body as her feet stood firmly on the club floor, large eyes still downcast. The emotions taking hold to her heart making her want to just crawl into a hole, but she stood there frozen almost too afraid to budge.

Afraid? Scared. Fear was the right word. That word was the answer. It was the real reason why she was stoic and careful, why she could say crazy things, but not act on them, even if she so desired it. She let fear rule her, she could feel it in the pit of her stomach like a wave of darkness that overshadowed her whole being. It was the whole reason why she could suddenly feel her heart thumping hard against her ribcage; she could feel heat filling her cheeks as her eyes widened. Her brain manifesting the darkness that always hovered over her on the wood planks of the floor she was staring at. There it was personified, and literally hanging over her swallowing her shadow into it's own darkness. It was almost too perfect; too literally see the metaphor for how she always felt performed before her very eyes. But how? How could it be? Levy started to raise a thin eyebrow. _Am I going crazy?_ Her mind suddenly questioned as she stared at the shadow on the floor and that was when she heard a voice.

Deep and dark, rough like heavy sandpaper and yet full of fortitude, it was the kind of voice that one could never forget once you heard it and she had definitely heard it. He made sure to speak low and yet soft so only she could hear him, like he was just breathing it out, so it would sound like a soft growl in her ear.

"Hey shrimp." It was his shadow that had engulfed hers as he stood over her back, his body slightly hunched over so that his head hovered just above her ear. Creating a cold feeling within her that ran down her spine as her large doe eyes went even larger. _No…_ She was thinking. _How could he be here? _ That odd feeling she had been having before Lucy disappeared to find Cana returned, as she could suddenly feel that crushing weight on her chest once again. She knew what it was that she had been looking for now. It was almost as if she had sensed him there, watching her and now here he was. And all Levy could think was, _what does he want?_

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><p>That's the first chapter. Please be kind by letting me know what you think with an honest review. I really enjoy writing, but I've been struggling lately. So any constructive criticism or good feedback would be really helpful.<p>

In the next chapter you can expect a lot more Gajeel and a little insight about his 'relationship' with Levy.


	2. Voice

**A/N: Most of you have probably not read any of my other stories seeing as I have only written one other Fairytail fic so far and it is not complete (Iron Gray). In saying that this is what you can expect from me the author: A recap at the beginning of each chapter, many thank yous, a response to any PMs (privately) as well as every review at the end of each chapter. Just like Iron Gray I also intend on finishing this fic, but unlike Iron Gray it should be a fast process seeing as the ending is in sight. This also being an AU makes it much easier. Right now my other story is kind of on a 'hold' as I am rereading it, but in the meantime I can work on this one. I kind of want to get this one done and over with (but that doesn't mean I'll rush) so that hopefully it won't distract from my much longer and more ambitious project. Again I am mostly doing this one as an experiment, but I have a lot of ideas for it. **

**Okay now that, that is out of the way, please also understand that this is an AU so characters may act a littler differently, (seemingly Gajeel not being so stupid with women). Also this chapter starts with a **_**long**_** flashback that explains Levy and Gajeel's 'relationship' some and there will be at least one other one to come in a later chapter. And lastly I decided to call this one 'Voice'.  
><strong>

**I apologize for any errors I missed.**

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><p><strong>Recap: <strong>

Her brain manifesting the darkness that always hovered over her on the wood planks of the floor she was staring at. There it was personified, and literally hanging over her swallowing her shadow into it's own darkness. It was almost too perfect; too literally see the metaphor for how she always felt performed before her very eyes. But how? How could it be? Levy started to raise a thin eyebrow. _Am I going crazy?_ Her mind suddenly questioned as she stared at the shadow on the floor and that was when she heard a voice.

Deep and dark, rough like heavy sandpaper and yet full of fortitude, it was the kind of voice that one could never forget once you heard it and she had definitely heard it. He made sure to speak low and yet soft so only she could hear him, like he was just breathing it out, so it would sound like a soft growl in her ear.

"Hey shrimp." It was his shadow that had engulfed hers as he stood over her back, his body slightly hunched over so that his head hovered just above her ear. Creating a cold feeling within her that ran down her spine as her large doe eyes went even larger. _No…_ She was thinking. _How could he be here? _ That odd feeling she had been having before Lucy disappeared to find Cana returned, as she could suddenly feel that crushing weight on her chest once again. She knew what it was that she had been looking for now. It was almost as if she had sensed him there, watching her and now here he was. And all Levy could think was, _what does he want?_

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><p><strong>Monster<strong>

**Chapter 2: Voice**

It was a cool crisp night in the midst of December. The sky was a deep navy between patches of ashen snow clouds, illuminated by the flakes that fell and gathered on the ground. The sidewalks were lined with puddles of slush and snow that slopped with each step Levy took with her tiny red boots. She was the only sign of life in the deserted streets, her form minuscule as she made her way between skyscrapers and parking garages.

The small girl was bundled up in a green coat, with a fluffy gray knitted scarf that concealed part of her delicate chin. Her arms were snuggly wrapped around several schoolbooks that she hadn't been able to fit in the bag draped over her shoulder. Her wild hair was bandana free for a change, but still held up in its usual manner by the headband of a pair of earmuffs. They seem to do a fine job of keeping the girl's messy blue strands back and out of her face, but not of protecting her hair from the elements as it grew damp from the snow. Her short legs were the only other part of her that wasn't bundled, as all they dawned were a pair of black tight fitting stockings.

She was walking slowly through the city in an effort to get back to her dorm building, after a long night of studying at her favorite twenty-four hour coffee shop. She took her time enjoying the quiet atmosphere that was winter, despite what a crazy time of year it was.

The holidays were approaching and so normally the town was a bustle what with all the crazy shoppers and holiday cheer. As if that wasn't enough, it was also finals time at the University, students were normally running all over the place, driven on by caffeine and ambition. Magnolia was truly chaotic this time of year, but right now? Right now it was about two in the morning and the city was so quiet it was almost as if you could hear the snowflakes landing.

Levy closed her eyes for a moment and began to hum to herself lightly as she walked all alone in the midst of night. She couldn't help, but smile blissfully, her mind taking advantage of the calm after several hours of disciplined straining and studying. This break was very much needed, she was quite tired and ready to get to bed once she got home, but she wasn't about to let the peaceful moment pass her by without enjoying it.

She took a soft breath of the cold air once her humming died down, allowing herself to really feel everything. She could feel the sting in her nose and cheeks, probably red from the cold. She could feel the icy water beginning to seep through her boots wetting her socks, but she didn't care. Her hair was starting to become damp as the snowflakes continued to pile on each strand, but it didn't stop the beautiful music from playing in her head.

Impulse seem to take over as Levy suddenly stopped walking and opened her eyes. She immediately looked to the sky one hand going out as if to catch the falling flakes well the other held onto the books she had been carrying. She could see the tops of high towers outlined against gray clouds along with all the white specks that came floating carelessly towards her. They were landing on her face, heaving her eyelashes with their water weight. The city was beautiful to her this time of year and it made her appreciate how much she truly enjoyed living in Magnolia. Despite all the stresses that came with living in the big city she was happy she had made the choice to go to Makarov's University. She was working towards being a med student working towards her dream and for the first time in her life she felt like she had finally found a place to call home.

These hopeful and happy thoughts took hold of Levy so strongly that she began twirling around, what with nobody there to see, before continuing her walk cheerfully. Her smile lighting up her face in a secretive way, knowing this moment was for her and her alone. Her large hazel eyes looked back towards the sidewalk before her as she continued her walk almost absent-mindedly. She was still lost in her thoughts when she heard the sound of sirens.

Levy glanced up, her head looking around as the sirens became significantly louder. She could hear them coming towards her, she turned around just as the sound became deafening and then there it was. A fire truck came swinging around the corner of the street she was walking on, at full speed despite the snowy roads. She paused to watch as the emergency vehicle blew past her causing her eyebrows too shoot upwards. She stood there watching mouth agape until it disappeared around another corner to the next street over. She could still hear the sirens; it hadn't gone very far from the sounds of it. She listened for a minute longer as she also realized it was headed in the direction she was going, towards her dorm. That was when she also noticed she could hear even more sirens in the distance.

Levy stood there, one eyebrow up and her head tilted as her brain continued to muse over these findings that was until another odd sensation hit her. A strange smell... Levy's eyes went wide as she looked back up towards the sky. This time noticing a dark black cloud among all the gray ones, _It's a fire, a huge one! _Her thoughts screamed, as she wasted no more time, taking off in a full out sprint down the street. Her eyes began to tear up and stream across her face as the cold wind dived into them with each step. Her lungs began to hurt as the icy air came crashing into her insides each time she panted.

_Please don't be my building!_ Was all she could think, her worst fears beginning to take form causing her to panic. _It's everything I have; it's all I have! _She had no way of knowing where exactly the smoke was billowing from, but she could tell it was near by as was her building. She ran around the corner after what felt like an eternity, setting herself up for a perfect view of the devastation.

It was a large square building bursting in bright dancing oranges and yellows, but almost overshadowed by a heavy fog of black ash. It was an apartment building, but not one Levy knew anybody in. In fact as far as she knew it was one of the abandoned buildings that was due for renovations by Makarav. Levy stood there frozen for a moment as the bright colors bounced off her skin, reflecting in her large amazed eyes. Her sights going from the top of the building that was bursting with fire down towards the base where fire trucks, ambulances and police cars were parked, lights shining. She could see many large streams of white jetting up at the blaze, the firefighters were doing their best to fight off the flames, but right now it looked like it was a lost cause. Fire was shooting out and sparking from most every window of the structure leaving it to already look torn and tattered. It appeared to be on the brink of collapse as the fire continued to eat it away. Levy could barely hear the firefighters shouts to one another over the loud buzz of the flames. She stood there mesmerized by both the fear and beauty of the overwhelming destruction as the fire proudly roared at her as if it were a beast come to life, contently enjoying it's meal. It was terrifying and she wanted to run, but it was as if her feet were planted, that was until she felt her eyes beginning to sting.

She was far too close and she was beginning to breath in the smoke and ash. This realization finally seem to stir some sense into the girl as she immediately began to cough what she could out. She brought a gloved hand over her nose and mouth well the other still clung to her books.

"I gotta get out of here… I have to get home." She choked out as she ducked her head in an attempt to avoid the smoke further. Normally this was the street she would walk down to get home, but she didn't want to get any closer to the fire than she already was. She began to glance around, her eyes squinting in pain; the smoke had grown much heavier within the short time she had been standing there. It was hard to see where to go to escape it all what with her burning eyes and the black fog. That was when she noticed an alleyway a couple buildings away and she quickly made her way towards it.

Once she got between the tight walls she could feel the clean air returning to her lungs, making it a bit easier to breath. The alleyway was positioned in just the right direction away from the burning building successfully shielding her from its fumes. She came upon it letting her small body fall against the brick wall of one of the buildings as she gasped for more air, letting her books collapse in the snow before coughing a couple more times to rid herself of the smoke. She leaned her head back, her arms down at her sides. Now that she could breath again her mind was going a mile a minute. She was staring at her feet trying to gather her bearings so that she could figure out what to do when she suddenly heard and odd noise. It sounded like a person moaning…

Levy's eyes widened as she pushed herself off the wall, _Now what could it be?_ Her mind questioned in disbelief after everything that had already happened_. _She stood in a ready stance; staring down the dark alleyway boldly, ready to run at a moment's notice.

"Who's there?!" She questioned demandingly, trying to sound brave. Her question was greeted with another moan and that was when she was able to spot it. The place where the odd noises were coming from, the issue was it was hard to tell what exactly it was. It was dark and although it sounded human from where she stood it didn't look it.

"Is someone there?!" Levy hollered out, knowing someone was. She was both worried and confused by what she saw.

"Please…" A dry voice begged back. "Please help me!" The voice hollered weakly, finally making successful words. Levy's eyes grew large as she realized that the person was in a heap on the ground. This discovery and the desperate plea urged her forward without hesitation. She sprinted up towards what she now could clearly see was the beaten body of a man.

He had short navy hair and a very pointed face, with a strange black 'X' tattoo on his forehead just above his right eyebrow. It was hard to tell much else about him seeing as he had been beaten to a bloody pulp. He was sitting on the ground one leg stretched out and the other folded in, his back against the wall along with his head and neck. His skin was covered in what Levy imagined was ash from the fire, but among the ash were multiple cuts and bruises, along with a few burns. He had a black eye and his face was swollen in places, his mouth a bloody mess with missing teeth. His clothes were torn and scorched and he looked like he had done battle with a dragon.

Levy's wide eyes were searching him for any obvious life threatening injuries. She couldn't see anything immediate, but that didn't mean he was out of danger. She threw her body down before him on her knees, cautiously reaching towards him.

"We need to get you to the hospital!" She exclaimed taking off her scarf, but the man was just shaking his head weakly moaning as she reached for his forearm where there was a very particular nasty looking wound that was bleeding heavily.

"Noooo… No…." He moaned between bloody teeth. Levy wasn't really paying attention as her hands took hold of his severely injured arm gently, cautiously wrapping her scarf around the wound. The fabric soaking red immeditally forever ruining it, as she wrapped it tightly, it didn't matter she just wanted to slow down the bleeding at all cost.

"Yes, yes we do." She responded sternly as she finished what she was doing then began to move her body in such a way so that she could try and help the man move. "Come on. There's an ambulance around the corner, I can get you there. I know you're in pain, but we can do it." She stated back trying to stay level headed, as he didn't budge even with her urging.

"No you don't understand…" The man moaned. "I just need to hide or get out of here before he finds me." The beaten man choked out in his scratchy voice. At this Levy's thin eyebrows pushed together in deeper concern as her head went level with his. Her body in the ready position to help hoist the man up and help support him on his feet, she looked into his dark eyes perplexed.

"Before _who_ finds you?"

It was just as the words left her mouth, the beaten man's eyes went wide with terror, staring at something above Levy's head and that was when Levy knew. She could suddenly feel his presence behind her like a brick wall that had always been there. Her head went up, her eye transfixing on the wall just above the beaten man's head; there was a large dark shadow. She could feel all the air leaving her lungs in a soft gasp as she felt a breath blow against the back of her now bare neck.

"Hey shrimp." Oh that voice, so quiet and yet it resounded in her ear even through her earmuffs. It was so calm and yet full of malice, as if the one, who wielded it, held all the power to rip her to shreds and was just teasing her with the idea of it. It was rough and gritty sounding, like one you'd expect to hear from a man who did time, but strong like it was by _his_ choice. Levy felt her heart ice over and drop into the pit of her stomach before bouncing back up to pound rapidly in her chest.

"Black Steel Gajeel…" The man's voice was whining as tears began streaming down his face with a whimper.

Levy slowly began to turn her head shakily, her wide eyes meeting deep red crimson ones with black slit like pupils. Even in her wildest nightmares Levy hadn't ever expected to meet eyes quite that monstrous. They were almost animal like, glowing back at her in a cold hardened stare, framed by a chiseled bare brow. Yes bare, as in he had no eyebrows! Well at least not hair, in their place, instead were stud piercings, three silver ones above each one of his eyes. His face was so close to hers, it was hard for her to make out much else about him other than she knew he was scowling, but that didn't matter. She could already feel her mouth drying and her mind going blank and dizzy with panic as he stared right back at her.

She watched him quivering, her mouth agape as his eyes slowly slid off of her finally onto the man in front of her.

"That's right." Came that same voice dripping with darkness as Black Steel Gajeel raised his body up to its full height. Levy's eyes refused to leave his face out of pure fear of what he might do to her should she even blink as she watched him rise and tower over her small frame like a beast. Her eyes began pouring over every detail of him cautiously. From his long crazy black mane that came spiking out of his scalp, to the silver studs that lined certain features of his face. Three on each side of his sharp nose, two on his pointed chin below his thin devious lips, and five lining each one of his ears. The whole image made complete by two very prominent cheekbones.

Levy had always known she was small, but never in her whole life had she ever felt this small, well kneeling in the presence of this scary man as her sights bravely fell over the rest of his being. First landing on his long arched neck nestled with an Adam's apple, then to the sharp collarbones that protruded through his shirt leading into his wide chest. She could see the lines of his pectorals vaguely outlined; she didn't need to see them clearly to know that he was tone. The rest of him kind of gave it away as her eyes continued to timidly explore his form going towards his arms. In the dead of winter he wore no coat allowing her to see every corded muscle that spiraled through them until she noticed a large black symbol tattooed on his right shoulder. She paused taking the symbol in, it looked to be some kind of insignia and she couldn't help, but notice it was somehow familiar to her as if she had seen it before. The next thing she spotted were several jagged scars that wrapped around the tattooed arm as if some large monster's claws or teeth had torn at his skin ages ago. That followed by more metal studs protruding from his sand colored skin on both forearms making a line down towards his gloved hands where she could see a pair of brass knuckles. She could feel herself automatically swallowing past the lump in her throat, before her eyes continued their way down finally reaching his stomach and belted waistline that were swayed towards her, as he stood over her in an almost proud stance. She could only imagine the finely shaped muscles that lay hidden underneath. His lengthily legs stood firmly, dawned in beige baggy pants that were tucked into two bolted black boots that looked almost as big as her head.

Once Levy's eyes finished their long scale down they immeditally bounced back up to his face where she was met by the most menacing toothy grin she had ever seen, his canines abnormally large making them resemble fangs. He held her stare for a moment his grin only widening taking up his whole face, making him look like he might laugh at her.

"Gi hi!" Came the sound, what an odd sound it was too. Levy didn't even realize that he _was_ laughing at her at first. "Ya like what you see little girl?" He questioned smugly with one eye wider than the other making him look almost deranged with that crazy smile and his long tongue hanging out. Levy just sat there staring at him completely frozen and her mouth hanging open with no sound, the only noise was the beaten man's whimpers. She couldn't seem to move or speak; she didn't even feel like she was breathing at this point, she was so scared.

Gajeel let out the odd laughter once again at her silence his nose wrinkling for a second, before finally closing his mouth. Her reaction greatly amusing him, before he calmed back down his face growing less crazy looking as his grin eased to a smaller smile still with teeth bared. He slowly began to lean back towards her now, making Levy automatically move back as his face got close to hers again.

"Now." He stated his face only mere inches from hers, still smiling evilly. "Onto business." He said it quietly, almost whispering it, making Levy's heart thud loudly in her ears. She began to fear for the worst as she saw him cracking the knuckle that wasn't holding his weapon. All she could wonder was, what is he going to do to me and how am I going to possibly stop it? What she didn't expect was for him to suddenly back away from her and stand up straight, fold his arms and say. "You seem to have taken an interest in my target there."

Levy looked at him for a moment her eyebrows pushing together before one rose up at him. Now he was just watching her with a blank stare his red eye slowly moving to the man just behind her as if to emphasize whom he was referring to. Levy caught the hint and glanced at the crying man over her shoulder quickly, her hair swaying with her head before looking back at Gajeel who waiting for her expectantly. He was no longer grinning at her and he looked a lot less scary than he had a few seconds earlier, but she was still intimidated as he shot her a hard stare waiting for her response.

"Your target…?" She suddenly heard her own shaky voice utter out questioningly as she glanced back at the poor man who was shaking his head and watching her with pleading eyes.

"So you can speak." She heard Gajeel say arrogantly in response causing her head to snap back in his direction. He was smirking at her now and something about it irked her, but at least it wasn't as terrifying as that grin of his. Levy watched him with her doe like eyes, her brow mangled in concern. Gajeel took a step forward his smirk disappearing and being replaced with a scowl, as he pointed at the crying man on the ground. "This man. This man is mine." He stated flatly.

Levy looked at the beaten man Gajeel was pointing at once again, he was now sobbing his upper body having fallen more on the ground as he cowered. The tone in Gajeel's voice should have been enough, it should have been enough for Levy to get up and walk away with no questions asked. It would have been so much simpler if she had just accepted what he told her and she knew this, but something inside her was protesting against it. Her inner nature just couldn't let it be, not even to save her own skin, not when she knew what was probably going to happen.

"Are you going to kill him?" She suddenly asked all fear replaced with concern as she looked back at Gajeel.

Gajeel paused at her question taking in her serious features with a raised studded brow. He couldn't believe that this tiny shrimp had had the nerve to ask him such a question, especially when he could tell how scared of him she was.

"That's not something you need be concernin yer self with shrimp." He responded firmly. "You just need to listen to me when I tell you he's mine and go on yer marry way like you didn't see a thing." He added calmly as Levy slowly began to stand now on her quivering legs. Gajeel watched her his eyes trailing down her thick thighs over her soaked black stockings to her tiny feet slowly until she looked back at him.

"I can't do that." She stated boldly. "Not when I know what you're going to do." Gajeel's eyes narrowed on the girl as she stood now with tight stubborn fist. She really was small, like ridiculously small and petite. Now that he saw her standing he could really see it. Hell, she only just barely met the middle of his chest in height. Her large round eyes were boring into him now with a strong and determined look, as she held her ground despite her fear. Her thin eyebrows crossed over them, as their golden color burned into him making him feel angry over the righteousness her look carried.

"Well yer gonna have to!" Gajeel replied his voice raising as he stepped closer to her in an attempt to intimidate her into backing down. Levy could feel her heart pounding in her throat, but she didn't budge instead she just bit down and looked at him as fiercely as she could.

"I won't let you hurt him anymore!" She shouted as Gajeel gave her a dark glowering look, his body now planted right in front of her, his broad chest right in her face as he stared down at her like a devil.

"And how do you plan on stopping me?" Came his voice like ice, so dark and seething with anger, that Levy felt chills run down her spine. She couldn't tell if he was threatening her or not, but she knew she couldn't back down. She couldn't let him kill this man; she would never forgive herself if she did. But he was right; there was no way she could even hope to stop him. He could easily overpower her, there had to be something else she could do, her mind was racing.

"I'll tell the police!" She shouted. "They're right around the corner! You won't be able to get away!" It was this threat that pushed Gajeel over the edge as he suddenly reached out snatching her tiny arm and jerking her body up into him, pulling her face closer to his in such a fast motion she didn't even have time to gasp.

"You're not going to do any of that." He growled his nose practically touching hers as his red eyes gleamed. "Cause I ain't leavin without him even if that means I have to take you with me!" He added his voice barking back. She could feel his warm breath as he spoke the words right in her face and feel the tight grip on her arm. He wasn't hurting her even as she struggled some in his grasp, but she could feel the hidden force behind it as if he was just teasing her with what he could do to her without even trying.

Gajeel could smell a wintery scent coming off her as he held her there staring at her. He couldn't seem to stop himself from noticing the smooth milky white texture of her skin and the way her blue damp hair framed her face. He could feel his own heart pace quicken as he felt her tiny arm trying to twist free. Her wrists were so small he felt like his large hands could wrap around them twice over. He could feel heat moving to his neck as he stared into her large doe like eyes, his eyes traveling down her cute button nose to the thickness of her bottom lip. Then just as suddenly as he grabbed her, he let her go with a small propelling push of his hand as if he couldn't bear to be that close to her for another second. Then his head immeditally turned away from her and his body took a slight step back.

Levy caught herself; he hadn't pushed her too hard, but enough to get his point across. She stood there her arms curling into herself and her cheeks going pink as relief filled her. Thankful that he hadn't hurt her, but her eyes went down in shame, as she didn't know what she could do now, because there was no way she would ever be able to stop him.

There was a long moment of silence as Gajeel stared at the brick wall over his shoulder in confusion. Not understanding what had gotten into him, his rage boiling within his stomach. Then there was Levy staring at her feet completely forlorn and at a lost. The snowflakes were still falling over them as the smoke still billowed past, the burning smell still clinging to the air, but the noise of sirens had died. Levy realized this was that same silence that she had felt earlier on her walk home before all of this had happened, the very same peaceful atmosphere that was winter. Levy was playing with her fingers when she finally decided to speak.

"Gajeel…? That… is your name right?" Gajeel stood there a small smile washing over his lips, but he didn't move.

"Yea… You got it." He answered calmly, the anger in his tone gone.

"Did you… did you start that fire?" Levy questioned cautiously, at this she heard him laugh his unusual laugh once again.

"Nah." He stated. "_Friends_ of mine." He answered as he looked over his shoulder at her now making her look back up at him. "Tryin' to stop me. Just like you." He said. Levy heard his voice and then her eyes slowly looked over him again this time noticing some slight singes in his clothing. Maybe that was why he wasn't wearing a coat in such weather, cause he took it off in the fire.

This thought made her suddenly shiver from the cold as she just remembered how cold she was, her body was basically soaked now. She hadn't noticed it before what with all the adrenaline running through her.

Gajeel was watching her now as her body began to shake her eyes going downcast.

"You cold shrimp?" He asked with a smirk. "You should probably run along and get home." He added.

"Please just tell me." She begged, "Why are you after this man?" Gajeel looked down at the man who was still crying very quietly now.

"He stole from my boss." He stated. "His name is Bora and he's a bad person… Not to mention I owed him this beating for a friend of mine." He stated now glancing up at Levy with a scowl. "Someone like you shouldn't worry about what happens to scum like him."

"And you?" Levy asked.

"I'm no better, but that's why I'm gonna be the one to handle him." Gajeel answered as he turned away from her stepping up to the fallen man. Bora started to cower as Gajeel approached, his arms flying over his head as if that would somehow cover him. He was starting to sob and whimper loudly again. Gajeel stood there his hard stare stabbing at Bora's back in disgust as Levy watched him.

"Please don't kill him." She tried one last time. Gajeel just bent over grabbing the back of the man's shirt and slowly started to pull him up.

"NO NO! PLEASE!" Bora began to beg and cry.

"These are my orders. Shut up!" Gajeel snapped at Bora, as he slowly brought the man over his shoulder, then turned towards Levy now addressing her again. "As I told you, nothing for you to be concernin' yer self with." He stated firmly.

"Gajeel…" Levys started to say, but she was interrupted by his shouts.

"LEAVE!" His red eyes were blazing back into hers with a newfound rage as she disobeyed. She watched him her feet planted and her eyes sad as if she might cry. "Get outta here! Unless you wanna see what I do to him!" He roared at her making her eyes go wide with terror and it was at this that Levy's feet started to step back away from him. She could feel the tears starting to well up as a sick feeling washed over her.

"Get the hell out of here! NOW! JUST FORGET EVEYTHING YOU'VE SEEN!" Gajeel raged at her with a booming voice and an arm going out pointing in a direction and that was it. Levy finally turned around and began to sprint away as fast as she could to the other end of the alleyway. There she made it out onto the next street over, pausing to take a breath, but Gajeel was still shouting at her, urging her to run away further. She wasted no more time doing what she was told not being able to bear what was coming. She slammed her eyes shut and ran with all her might through the snow, tears began to spill down her face as she made a straight line towards her dorm.

Levy could feel herself becoming so upset as she made that sprint home. It was so hard to keep it in, but she needed to get home as soon as possible and once she finally did. She slammed the door behind her collapsing onto the floor of her dorm, soaked and crying, luckily her roommate was sound asleep. She threw off her soaked coat, boots and stockings onto the floor by a heat vent, before leaning her body back against the door. She could feel her earmuffs getting in her way so then she ripped them off as well. Finally allowing her messy blue strands to fall over her face, the snowflakes that clung to each one melting on contact with her hot skin, making the hair stick to her. Her cheeks were inflamed red from the cold, the running and her tears; her eyes were swollen and puffy. She stood up slowly her body wobbling, her clothes were damp and she was still so cold as she panted, each breath stinging from all the icy air that had raked through her.

She made her way to the bathroom to draw a bath, because she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep just yet. She slowly removed her damp clothing as she watched the rushing water pour out of the facet in a relaxing sound. She couldn't help, but watch it as steam began to lift up from the stream, her tears drying as she became entranced by it. She dipped her red icy feet in slowly, feeling the burn as the water began to fill the tub. Slowly her cold body adjusted to the warm water slowly sinking into it as it filled the tub. Soon she was in up to just below her nose, her eyes closing gently as she listed to the soft noise of the rushing water. She could feel how exhausted she was now as the warmth of the bath filled her. Physically from the cold and all of the running she had done. Mentally from all the studying and stress she had been dealing with and now emotionally, because of everything she had just witnessed. _You were supposed to forget it all, remember?_ Her thoughts reminded her. _That's what he told you to do._

Levy opened her eyes at this and all she could think was, how? _How am I supposed to do that Gejeel?_

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><p><em>I couldn't forget it; I couldn't forget what I saw that night and I couldn't forget meeting you Gajeel, even as much as I wanted to.<em>

"I couldn't…" She whispered.

"What was that?" Gajeel asked still hovering over Levy's back. Levy opened her eyes, the sound of booming music returning to her. She could see the wooden floor of the club once again and Gajeel's shadow still hanging over her. She was out of her memory and back in the present and here he was hovering over her just like that night.

Levy turned to face him, her large eyes matching his red ones with a hard stare as if she was annoyed by his presence. His grin widened and she could see those long canines of his protruding like they always did. The metal piercings' on his face occasionally shining as the moving lights bounced off of them. Levy felt like she was having déjà vu as he looked the same as he did the night they met.

"Now that's quite the look shrimp. Are you not happy to see me?" He asked her in that deep arrogant voice of his.

"Gajeel." She stated his name seriously getting his mouth to close, but now he was just smirking at her. "What are you doing here?" She questioned him firmly with no emotion. He let loose one of his unique laughs before answering her as if amused by her displeased tone.

"Definitely not." He answered his own question, completely ignoring hers. Then his red eyes slowly trailed from her face down the length of her body with no shame, making her cheeks flush pink. She was wearing a form fitting tank top dress with a belt and a short skirt. Over that she had on a small short sleeve jacket and tall stockings over her legs.

Her hands went up to the rim of her jacket instinctively, clinging to the fabric tightly and pulling it closed as if suddenly aware of how much skin was exposed over her chest. She stood there awkwardly as his eyes continued to drag their way down over the curve of her waistline and then to her legs.

"Why am I here?" He questioned still not hiding the fact that he was looking at _all_ of her. "What are _you_ doing here?" He asked finally bringing his eyes back up to meet hers. Levy's brow lowered as she shot him a disgusted look, her annoyance clearly showing.

"I asked you first!" She snapped and it was this response that finally made him rip his eyes off of her. His head shifted up and swiveled around as he took in the room with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Alright shrimp, if ya must know, work." He answered nonchalantly.

"Work." She repeated in a flat skeptical tone.

"You think I hang out at places like this?" He asked her, his red eyes meeting her face again. Levy glanced down, what he was saying actually made a lot of sense. Gajeel didn't strike her as the clubbing type, but it also worried her seeing as she had a basic idea of what Gajeel's 'work' consisted of.

"What is Jose having you do?" She questioned bravely, her eyes going back up earning a snicker from him.

"You think I'd tell ya that shrimp?" He answered now dawning his signature grin. "Hell no, but don't you worry, because my business here is through anyways." He stated making Levy breath out a sigh of relief. If he had already done whatever it was he was supposed to do, then that had to mean he would be leaving without causing any trouble or at least noticeable trouble.

"Then what are you still doing here?" She asked earning a smug smirk from him as he bent down moving his face towards hers.

"I saw you here." He answered smoothly making the heat in Levy's cheeks turn up as she bit down nervously. His eyes were quickly skimming down her neck again, but they moved back up before he continued. "But obviously you want me gone, why's that?"

"W-why? Like you don't know?!" Levy uttered out in disbelief.

"Enlighten me." He stated and it was at this point she pushed his shoulder back with her tiny hand in an attempt to get him to back away. Really all she did was succeed in pushing herself back as his body stayed planted like the wall of muscle he was.

"Because I can't _stand_ you Gajeel!" She answered back angrily. Gajeel rose up now and laughed at her again, making Levy drop her arms at her sides in frustration. He was so arrogant and she hated that about him.

"So that's it eh?" He responded once his laughter had ceased. Levy was glaring at him as her teeth clamped down trying to control the wild anger that only he seem to stir within her.

"Of course! Haven't I made that clear! Just leave me alone!" She snapped, but Gajeel just revealed his teeth once again.

"I get it now." He stated making Levy look at him as if he were slow.

"Well it's about freaking time! It's a wonder that it took you this long to get it through that thick head of yours!" She exclaimed, just as Gajeel took a step closer, this action giving her pause and making her become uneasy as he towered over her. "Wait… W-What are you doing?" She choked out her heart beginning to pound.

"I know why yer here now, dressed like that." He replied arrogantly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Levy questioned back, her voice low and apprehensive. "Maybe I come here all the time! How would you know?!" She added getting louder.

"You don't." Gajeel stated simply earning a hostile look from the girl. "I know what you're like Levy or did you forget? You don't come to this side of town and you sure as hell don't come to places like this, so you must be desperate." Gajeel finished watching her with an evil gleam in his red eyes, his teeth bared. He got close to her once again making her chest constrict into tight knots. "What's the matter? Hit too close to home? Is that why ya want me gone? Am I ruinin' yer plans for the night?"

Levy's frustrations with Gajeel were through the roof after having to listen to the rash barrage of theories he was spinning about her. He was far too presumptuous, but she swallowed it all up until the very last comment when she just couldn't bare it anymore. His persistence finally succeeding in unhinging her rage as her arm came swinging up to meet his face, but her swiftness was no match for his. In one fluid motion he caught her wrist making her stare at him wide eyed as he held her hand in place.

_What were you thinking?! Did you forget how dangerous this man is?!_ Her thoughts were scolding her as her whole body began to quiver under his grasp. Any struggling she did was all in vain as panic began to set in. He had her now and he showed no signs of letting her go. All she could do was watch as his eyes moved from hers to the wrist he was holding up by his face.

"What's this?" He questioned calmly, his grip tightening just ever so slightly making one of Levy's eyes wince more out of fear than pain. She closed them; her head looking down and away as she braced herself for whatever was coming next. She couldn't speak, it was as if her throat had closed up, she could feel her knees going weak. Fear had completely taken over, making her helpless as he held her there so effortlessly. Her complexion was beginning to turn pale, making his affects on her completely visible. She probably would have collapsed if it weren't for him holding her up. He glanced back at her; his grin was gone now and replaced with a scowl.

"You were gonna slap me, right?" He questioned forcing Levy to open her eyes, her heartbeat resounding in her ears. "Because you can't _stand_ me? No, that's not what I think." He said coolly, his voice quiet. "I _think…" _He started to say as he turned his sights back on her captured wrist. "That you can't_ stand_… That you _want_ me…" He finished, his voice deep before closing his eyes slowly and then placing his lips on Levy's wrist.

Levy watched him, her face going from pale to a hot red almost instantaneously. The rapid change in body temperature brought on by his bold action successfully making her dizzy. She could feel the coolness of sweat on the back of her neck as his warm lips gently press against her skin. She was a prisoner of shock as she watched him completely exasperated and unable to think. _Do something Levy_! Her mind shouted and that was when she began to squirm under his grip with more force than ever and just as his lips disappeared so did his hold on her. Her form suddenly jetted back a few steps away from him, pulling her now free arm back towards her body protectively. She stared at him with large innocent eyes as if he had just violated her and for once he wasn't smirking at her smugly. Instead he was just watching her with a hard stare, almost as if he had been completely serious.

But he couldn't be, could he? He was just teasing her again like he had the last time she saw him. It was what he did; he was full of himself and he seem to have this notion that every woman wanted him.

"What are you doing?!" She questioned him demandingly.

"Whatever I want." He answered simply, no arrogance, no smirks or grins in his voice this time. "You should try it sometime."

"I _don't_ want you Gajeel." She answered defiantly.

"Of course you don't." He answered her sarcastically coming towards her again.

"Don't touch me." She started to say as she moved away again.

"Then just run away from me." He responded, speaking over her. "I won't chase you. I think you know that. " He said getting close to her again, his hand now reaching towards her face as Levy backed up against a table. She stood there watching him, her face red with heat as his hand hung there between them.

"I-I can't. I told Lucy I'd stay here and wait for her."

"Excuses." Gajeel spoke as his fingers slowly went against her cheek, feeling her warmth. She stood there, still against his touch as his thumb went around and under to the other side of her face, successfully cupping her chin with his large hand. She was amazed by how softly he touched her with his rough hand as he gently pushed her head up to look at him. "You could have stopped me or gotten away from me at any point now. You could have screamed, yelled, called for help, what with all these people here if you really thought you were in danger. And yer too smart to forget that so why didn't you?" He asked her knowingly, his stare blazing into hers.

"I…" She uttered as Gajeel's head neared hers. It looked as if he was leaning in to kiss her and Levy just stood there frozen, letting him do as he pleased. Completely entranced and at a loss for everything, it was like she couldn't even think coherent thoughts.

"You what?" He spoke as his head came so close that the tip of his nose was grazing hers.

"I don't want any trouble…" She finally breathed out, her stomach flipping as she watched him close his eyes and then he rested his forehead on hers. His lips were just a touch away when she found her voice again. "I want you to leave."

He paused there for a second his warm breath against her face, the pressure of his forehead leaning against hers. His hand resting on her cheek, his thumb swaying over the skin feeling her softly, but he didn't move any closer. He didn't close the distance with his lips. Instead he just hung over them for a second longer before slowly moving his head back and away, his hand still holding her chin. She watched his eyes open as his warmth disappeared and he gave her the stare of a starved animal, so full of disappointment. Slowly his hand slid off of her face and the look of desperation faded from his features and was replaced with a weak smirk.

"Fine have it your way, shrimp." He spoke almost in a sigh, his voice easy and light. It was the last thing she had expected from him. She had expected more protest, or anger, maybe even force, but she got none of that.

"That-t's it?" Gajeel's hands move to his sides in confusion.

"What were you expectin'?" He questioned as Levy finally eased her body off the table she had been backed up against.

"I-" She began to say, but Gajeel quickly cut her off.

"Never mind, just forget it." He said it awkwardly as if he didn't want to know, then he looked back towards her. "Look I'll leave ya alone, but I ain't leavin, not just yet." He stated changing the subject and this made Levy raise an eyebrow at him skeptically, the mood between them easing back to normal.

"Why?" She asked him flatly and this made that grin of his flare up once again.

"You really need ta learn to not ask me questions little girl. Yer never gonna get any answers."

"Fine!" She snapped. "Whatever! I don't care anymore! Please just go away and leave me alone before my friends comes back!" At this Gajeel let out another one of his odd little laughs his eyes closing in amusement. It was so odd to see him make a face like that, a genuine looking smile where he didn't look deranged for once.

"Yer so easily worked up." He replied. "I like it."

"Go!" Levy shouted as she pointed elsewhere, making him finally start to turn away from her.

"Don't worry, I'm leavin." He said calmly as he began to take a few steps, but his head turned back so that one eye could look at her from over his shoulder. "But just remember I'll be here, if ya change yer mind." He added slyly making Levy just bite down angrily as his head move forward again. Then he slowly walked away disappearing behind the bodies of people without so much as another word finally leaving Levy alone with all of her frustrations over his surprise appearance.

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><p><strong>Alleyways seem cliché to me, I even used it in my other story, but that's okay, it's all just practice right? So Gajeel is gone, but not for long so don't worry. This ended up going much further than I originally imagined, but I'm okay with that. Please tell me what you think, any theories building, thoughts, ideas? Did you like the chapter or not, if not then why? Please be constructive in your reviews if you wish to criticize so I know where to improve. <strong>

**And ****Thank you**** so much for following this story, reviewing it, adding it your favorites list or even just reading it. I write to entertain and I love nothing more than to share what I have.**

**To my Reviewers****:**

** .39566: ** Thank you so much! I am very happy to hear that you're enjoying the story so far and yes I try to be thorough with characters, as I find their development to be the most interesting part of any story. I hope you will continue to read and thank you so much for your review!

**Katatsumurii: **Yea unfortunately that seems to be one my biggest issues is how wordy I can get by saying the same thing over again in different ways. I'll try to watch that in the future now that you've pointed it out, it makes me a little more aware. Anyways I'm glad you enjoy it so far and hopefully you will keep reading and will still find the story interesting. Thank you so much for taking the time to review, feedback is very appreciated as always and thank you even more for reading!

**Shizuka23: ** I hope you will be happy to see that there is more to read and it is quite long. I'm sad that you were sad, but pleased to hear you found the chapter suspenseful, hopefully you will feel the same about this chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing especially!


	3. Eyes

**A/N: This chapter is quite long and they will probably all be that way just, because I'm trying to bust my way through the story. There's another flashback in this one, that explains more of Gajeel and Levy's brief history with each other. It's the only other one I plan on including unless the story continues past where I intend on ending it maybe. Hopefully that's okay, everything I include in the story is in there for one reason or another and not for nothing. **

**I apologize for any errors I missed.**

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><p><strong>Recap: <strong>

"Never mind, just forget it." He said it awkwardly as if he didn't want to know, then he looked back towards her. "Look I'll leave ya alone, but I ain't leavin, not just yet." He stated changing the subject and this made Levy raise an eyebrow at him skeptically, the mood between them easing back to normal.

"Why?" She asked him flatly and this made that grin of his flare up once again.

"You really need ta learn to not ask me questions little girl. Yer never gonna get any answers."

"Fine!" She snapped. "Whatever! I don't care anymore! Please just go away and leave me alone before my friends comes back!" At this Gajeel let out another one of his odd little laughs his eyes closing in amusement. It was so odd to see him make a face like that, a genuine looking smile where he didn't look deranged for once.

"Yer so easily worked up." He replied. "I like it."

"Go!" Levy shouted as she pointed elsewhere, making him finally start to turn away from her.

"Don't worry, I'm leavin." He said calmly as he began to take a few steps, but his head turned back so that one eye could look at her from over his shoulder. "But just remember I'll be here, if ya change yer mind." He added slyly making Levy just bite down angrily as his head move forward again. Then he slowly walked away disappearing behind the bodies of people without so much as another word finally leaving Levy alone with all of her frustrations over his surprise appearance.

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><p><strong>Monster<strong>

**Chapter 3: Eyes**

Gajeel stalked off towards the bar his grin slowly fading into an unfriendly scowl. His arms were swinging at his sides as he made a path through the crowd with his large body, not minding who he ran into. Most of the patrons were clearing out of his way on their own accord once they spotted his monstrous form stomping towards them. His fists and teeth were clenched tightly out of frustration. His mind stuck on a loop of the scene he had just walked away from, stirring a horde of unwanted emotions that he would rather _not_ deal with and it was all, because of her.

The only reason Gajeel had come to such a place was for a briefing with some of Jose's associates who had insisted on that location. He actually hated clubs, because he didn't like to dance and if he was going to be drinking he'd much rather do it somewhere quieter and less crowded. He had been dreading the whole ordeal up until the point he spotted Levy. Once he knew she was there too, the meeting might as well of fell on deaf ears as she became about the only thing on his mind.

He couldn't help it; there was just something alluring about her. She was nothing like any of the women he usually took up with, cut from a completely different cloth. One that was far beyond his grasp and he was well aware of this. The world she belonged to was like a parallel to the one he lived in, with hers being devoid of darkness and his being drenched in it. They were like night and day almost quite literally, with her living day by day in the sunlight and him walking the shadows at night.

Despite this Gajeel had seen enough of Levy to get an idea of what kind of person she was and it made sense that she wouldn't want anything to do with him. She actually had a fully functional head on her shoulders for one thing, which wasn't usually what he went for, but with her it was part of the draw. The irony being that this same draw also had everything to do with why she didn't want him back, as she was too smart to get involved with someone like him. This reason was only one among the many why Levy McGarden peaked Gajeel's interest.

There weren't very many people that he could say that about. Gajeel wasn't really a 'people' person in general. He tolerated them to the degree he needed to and didn't go out of his way to make friends. This was for the best really, because his work kept him too busy and the consistency of it didn't really allow for any kind of social life other than the fellow members of Jose's organization. Even out of that group of people there were really only a select few whom he considered worthy enough to converse with, all of them being on par with his status. This small group was only made up of four others, other than Jose himself and really there was only one among the four whom he referred to as his friend. That was about the extent of Gajeel's social life, he didn't really find pleasure in spending time with others and overall he preferred his solitude. Except for when it came to Levy, she was something else entirely and he often times found himself behaving differently around her.

First off he had met her completely on accident while on the job and she had actually gotten in his way, purposely. That alone made her worth remembering, because when he first saw her all he had been able to recognize was terror. That was the look she had given him and it was all too familiar to Gajeel. Every time he saw it he welcomed it, like a son coming home from war, reveling in the fear he brought out of people. He found their reactions greatly entertaining and was often amused just as he had been with Levy that night. Her responses to him had been what he expected up until the part where she didn't try to run away or even scream. Then to Gajeel's own amazement a few minutes later she was standing up to him in an attempt to try and protect a man she didn't even know, but this wasn't even what had rocked him the most.

The part that had really struck a chord within him was the moment she had asked him not to kill the man he had already beaten into a bloody mess. The look on her face when she had spoken those words to him, were forever etched in his brain like the scars on his skin. Her expression overlaid with such hope, as if she believed he was capable of being something better than _what_ he actually was. Her golden eyes searching over his being, for some kind of strain of humanity as if she knew he was just possessed by his actions and the life style he lived. And it was that very look of hers that made Gajeel finally rekindle the long forgotten feeling of guilt. A feeling he had been forced to abandon years ago in order to survive and do what needed to be done.

It had both greatly amazed and troubled him, because it was the last thing he needed and she had forced him to deal with it all over again. And now whenever he saw her he couldn't help himself. Something would just come over him and he knew that he couldn't leave her be, even when she demanded it. He couldn't even blame her for wanting nothing to do with him. No smart, good girl, in the right mind would dare remain in his presence by choice, but at the same time Gajeel couldn't help, but feel like Levy's distaste for him was all a front.

It was the whole reason why he had called her out on it tonight and why he had been so persistent. He just had this slinking feeling that deep down she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her… and oh did he want her… She had been on his mind way too much since that first night they had met and that was well over three years ago, even after only seeing her a handful of times.

At first he hadn't had too much trouble moving on from the guilt she had revived within him, seeing as he didn't see her for months after that. But every once in a while he would catch a glimpse of her walking somewhere in town and then sure enough he'd be hearing her voice in his head well on a job later that night. Successfully resurfacing the dead feeling he had buried long ago once again and if she wasn't haunting him that way than she was haunting him in others, perhaps worst ways.

Whenever he would find himself a woman for the night, he couldn't seem to stop his brain from pondering Levy again. His curiosities peeking in a deep desire to touch that white skin of hers, to be fleshed against her petite yet rounded form. His thoughts so desperately wanting to fill in the blanks her clothes covered up, because he just couldn't seem to stop himself from eyeballing her every time she was near by. She was exactly what he wanted and the fact that he couldn't have her made it that much worse. All he could do was stare and tease her as pay back for how she teased him each and every time he saw her without even meaning to. It was driving him through a wall and the only thing he could think to do about it was drink.

That was exactly what he had planned on doing too, now that he had seen her and gotten so close only to be rejected. He couldn't just leave without having a few, it was the only way he would be able to relax and so that was why he was B-lining it to the bar. He was so lost in anger and disappointment as he marched up to it that he didn't even notice the large breasted blond girl that walked by him until he arrived at the bar where someone was blatantly staring at her.

Upon finally reaching the bar Gajeel immeditally spotted two things that displeased him greatly. The first one being the rowdy group of people surrounding the bar; they were doing a splendid job of blocking any and all paths to the bartender. They seem to be in the middle of watching some epic drinking game that involved a red faced tall brunette girl. Then there was the second thing that annoyed Gajeel far more, and all to familiar face sitting on a stool at the only open corner. Familiar wasn't even the right word, as Gajeel had just seen this man minutes ago in his meeting. Before he had approached Levy and here he still was staring at the blond that had just walked away with his back and elbows leaning on the tabletop of the bar.

Gajeel stepped before the man promptly, his heavy boot thudding the ground in an attempt to get the idiot's attention, his huge body purposely blocking his line of sight from the unaware girl he was eyeing.

"Black Steel, come on man, you're blocking the view." The man spoke in a deep voice. His neck was stretching up high in an attempt to look past Gajeel's shoulder with his beady eyes. He was obviously more concerned with what he was missing than the glare Gajeel was sending his way.

He was a man of average height with a decently muscular looking physique; his forearms looking like they held the most mass. His face was long with a rectangular shaped chin and an oddly shaped nose that pointed downward. The most noticeable thing about him though was his frizzy fro like hair sported into two puffs, one off to each side of his head, that and the fact that he was ugly.

"Thibault." Gajeel growled his name finally earning the man's eyes. "What the hell are you doin'? Didn't ya hear me say we were done here?" Gajeel questioned demandingly as he folded his arms over his chest. "You shoulda been gone with the rest of yer lackeys. Now you better hightail yer ass out, before I let yer boss know you are still here." Gajeel replied pointing a thumb over his shoulder. Thibault just looked at Gajeel, a huge cheeky smiling filling his face as his arms went out casually.

"Go ahead and tell'im." He replied with a short laugh. "He won't care, he's _preoccupied_ by now." He added making Gajeel close his eyes as if wishing he hadn't heard that part. "I'm not on the job right now anyways, I'm just on the hunt. Look at this place, nice joint, with _nice_ people." He finished, his head following another girl that walked by just behind Gajeel as he spoke. Gajeel felt his stomach twist for a moment as his teeth clamped down in disgust. He couldn't stand Thibault, as far as he could tell at least. He hadn't been working with his group long, but he already knew that much.

Their boss, Banaboster, was head of the Twilight Ogre organization, their small claim to fame being that they owned the only casino/hotel in Magnolia. Jose had started working with them recently for two major reasons. One being that their business was legal and two being that their boss also disliked the other major power player in Magnolia, Makarov. They certainly weren't Gajeel's most favorite group to work with, but they were tolerable. They did as they were told allowing Jose to pull the strings, because all they were really after was money. Gajeel had been able to remain patient with most of them for this reason, even though he found their money-grubbing ways and brutish personalities annoying.

Then there was Thibault, something about this man got under Gajeel's skin. He was the Banaboster's right hand man just as Gajeel was Jose's, so that meant he had been seeing him a lot lately and he had begun to notice a pattern. The way he looked and talked about woman, there was something different about it. Gajeel couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something just felt off. The words he used just didn't sit right with him. He hadn't seen anything though so he just let it go for the time being, but his distaste for the man only grew with each passing second in his company.

"You need to leave." Gajeel stated coldly with a steely glare, but Thibault just brushed him off. For whatever reason he seemed quite unafraid of Gajeel.

"I'll be leaving when I find the one I want." Thibault answered back smugly before smirking as he noticed Gajeel's dead stare. He let loose that stupid boorish laugh of his, before responding to Gajeel's fierce expression. "Come on Black Steel, lighten up! Works done and I'm not about to let a trip to a place like this go to waste!" He exclaimed as Gajeel looked down at the ground with clamped teeth, he was trying to remain calm, but his folded arms were tensing up significantly. Thibault raised a long thin eyebrow at Gajeel before continuing. "Besides… you can't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing?" He questioned coyly as if he somehow already knew, but Gajeel made no movement except for a brief spasm of muscle as he could feel that deep seeded fury building within him. "Why else would _you_ still be here then?" Thibault added, his head moving closer to Gajeel's as if he was trying to be quiet. "There someone here you plan on taking?" He asked slyly draining the last of Gajeel's patience. It wasn't just what he was implying, but his word choice as well. There was just something malice in his phrasing, as if there was some kind of double meaning behind his words, a deeper darker purpose in store.

"Will you shut yer stupid fuckin' mouth!" Gajeel snapped, his head going up with teeth bared. Thibault's eyes glanced up and darted over the rage-fueled expression Gajeel carried, his hair reminding him of the fur on an animal when it's bristled up and ready to attack. His fangs were also exposed, only furthering the image. He paused for a moment staring at Gajeel bewilderedly before finally allowing the small outburst to vanish from his mind with a new realization. He greeted Gajeel's face with a wide knowing grin, as if humored by his newfound idea.

"Well now I know that's it, why else would ya get so defensive?" He asked as he closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "But for some reason ya don't sound too happy." He opened his eyes and sent Gajeel a far superior smirk now before continuing. "Did ya already get turned down or something? That's too bad champ." Thibault jested with mock concern before following up with another deep laugh, but that was the last straw for Gajeel. His arm was already shooting out and grabbing the fabric of Thibault's collar, pulling the man right off the stool he had been sitting in. Thibault's beady eyes grew wise as he was suddenly jerked forward, his face practically making impact with Gajeel's narrow eyed stare.

"What did I tell you again…?" Gajeel hissed out, "Oh yea…" He answered his own question, his fingers squeezing the fabric of Thibault's shirt tighter, as his arm muscles flexed with rage. "Shut your fucking mouth." He made sure to state and annunciate each word before letting his arm fly back behind him, the man he held going with it. Thibault caught his balance as he glared at Gajeel's back as he was taking a seat in the bar stool he had just been planted in seconds ago. "I ain't leavin just yet, because I planned on havin' a drink and nothing more..." Gajeel added still with his back to the man, as he waited in the bar stool to be noticed by one of the busy bar keepers. Thibault was standing with legs apart and a finger pointing at Gajeel accusingly, his eyebrows shot up the length of his forehead in irritation.

"You are a short tempered son of a bitch! Can't ya take a joke!?" He was yelling at Gajeel's back, his voice a bit shaken.

"Cry bout it, why don't ya then?" Gajeel replied with a roll of his eyes, taking his turn to fain concern now. "Now who's the bitch?" He added mockingly his head turning, his red eyes landing on Thibault again before turning back away, uninterested in whatever the idiot was going to say next. Thibault was shooting Gajeel his own glare as he began to yell again.

"I don't need to take this from you! You're not the boss of me! And just so ya know, you didn't scare me away! I'm not going anywhere, not until I get what I want!"

"Fine. I don't give a shit what ya do now. Just get the hell outta my sight." Gajeel stated his fist banging on the table. "Where the hell is the damn bar keeper!?" He shouted, his noise being drowned out by the surrounding crowd. He really could use that drink about now and he hated waiting for anything.

Thibault stood there staring daggers at Gajeel's back with his hands firmly glued to his hips defiantly. Gajeel was completely ignoring him now and for some reason he felt accomplished. Now that Gajeel was no longer pushing him out the door, he could do as he pleased. It was with this in mind he finally walked away from Gajeel and the bar without another word.

Gajeel listened to Thibault finally walk away before letting out a breath through his nose. His red eyes glancing back to where he had gone, _maybe I will stick around a little longer than originally planned. What with that guy roamin' around here, I feel like I oughtta_… He sighed again. _I do not like him… _His thoughts spoke as his fist suddenly banged the tabletop again.

"Oi! Bartender! Can I get some service over here or what?!"

* * *

><p>Levy was standing in the very same spot both Lucy and Gajeel, had left her mere minutes ago watching the club goers around her uneasily. Most of them were standing in groups of at least three or more around a table, drink in hand and smile dawned on their faces as they conversed and laughed with one another. Others looked sweaty and lazy eyed, either drunk or just beat from dancing. Couples were clinging to each other as if they might fall over without the other's support in just about every corner of the room. The women all dressed in short skirts and snug fitting dresses, the men in button ups and nice pants.<p>

Levy's eyes darted around the crowded room, taking in the overall atmosphere of people enjoying themselves with a distressed look over her face as she realized she was the odd man out. She felt like she was the spec of gray among the array of colors that filled that room. Standing out away from the others, yet still unnoticed and completely alone. She looked nothing like any of these people, even dressed as she was and it had nothing to do with her looks and everything to do with who she was as a person. As much as she hated admitting it to herself, Gajeel had been completely right about her not being the kind of person to go to these types of places. Even when Lucy had been with her, she hadn't acted any better, they were both so out of their element and then Gajeel…

He didn't belong either, he certainly wasn't dressed nice and he looked to rough for a nice place like this. _Although his actions spoke differently_, Levy thought with an eyebrow lowered as she watched a man kiss the hand of his date, the image almost mirroring the way Gajeel had kissed her wrist. Yes, the way he had moved in on her actually reminded her a lot of the surrounding crowd. In fact in the last few minutes she had watched several men either snake an arm or reach out a hand towards a girl in an effort to kiss her with no argument on the woman's part as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Levy glanced down at her wrist with a perplexed look, was that supposed to be normal? Was that how the dating scene worked these days? She hadn't thought so, but she was quickly realizing she really had no idea anymore.

Gajeel had seemed so forward to her, but maybe that was just how most people were these days. Maybe she had been the abnormal one by moving away from his advances, maybe her thoughts on dating were all outdated and she needed to broaden her mind. She paused again her eyes glancing back up and noticing the familiarity the club goers carried for each other. It was just as Gajeel had been with her and why wouldn't it be? He did know her after all and maybe that was why she hadn't felt as out of place when he was with her. But at the same time she couldn't help, but wonder how many of these people were actually meeting for the first time. She had a sneaking suspicion that it was the majority despite how comfortable they all seemed and the thought left a bad taste in her mouth.

No, the more she thought about it, maybe one night stands with strangers were not what she wanted even though she had ranted about it earlier with Lucy. Her eyes went downcast, falling over her hand as she rung them together in front of her. _It would have to be someone I know, I can't imagine being that intimate with someone I've never met before_. She thought as her mind drifted back to the way Gajeel's hand had touched her cheek.

Her head snapped up at the memory making her cheeks flush. _Not Gajeel_, her mind affirmed, but this didn't stop the images of him leaning into kiss her from returning to her brain, making her eyes shift up towards the ceiling. He had been so careful with her in that moment and that hadn't been what she expected from him. Not with everything she knew about him thus far, his shady work, his arrogant personality, his rough voice, his scary appearance, his large physique and much to her own dismay of knowing this, but supposedly his sex as well... Gentle, not exactly being the word that came to mind when she thought about it. She subconsciously brought a hand to her forehead in embarrassment; really wishing she hadn't let her mind wander in that direction. It would have to be a cold day in hell for her to actually admit to him that she thought about that, _ever_. Her dignity holding out against that ego of his and over her own wants and desires as she knew that when pushed came to shove Gajeel Redfox was just bad news. He was not the kind of person she should never get involved with, _ever_, even if he made it abundantly clear that he wanted her. Even if deep down she kind of wondered what it would be like to spend a night with him…

"Levy!" Came Lucy's voice crashing into her mind causing her to jump right out of her scandalous thoughts. She let out a small alarmed squeak as the blond suddenly appeared in front of her. "I'm back and boy do I have news… for… you." Lucy was saying her words tapering off as she got a look at Levy's bright red face. "Um… you okay Levy?" She questioned with a tilt of her head and a puzzled face.

"Oh yea! I'm just great!" Levy uttered out with a brief innocent laugh.

"Why's your face all red?" Lucy asked next with narrowed eyes. Levy's hands shot up to her face in alarm.

"Oh is it?" She questioned feeling the heavy warmth that had gathered in her own cheeks. _Great_… she was thinking. _Damn you Gajeel! This is all your fault! If you had just left me alone then my mind would have never of gone there…_ Her thoughts complained as her hands dragged off her face. "I think I just got kind of hot. That's it really, so don't worry." She answered trying to ignore the double meaning in her own words. Then she looked down finally noticing that the blond was holding a fruity looking drink in each hand. "What're those?" Levy asked eyeing the drinks in Lucy's hands. Lucy's dark eyes scaled down to each drink in her hand before glancing back up at Levy.

"Oh... oh yea! These are for us, because… Well…" Lucy paused, her eyes shifting up towards the ceiling "I think were gonna be here a while." Levy stared at Lucy for a moment in confusion.

"I take it you didn't find Cana then?" She asked, but Lucy just smiled at her bitterly.

"Oh I found her." She answered flatly.

"I feel like there's a 'but' in this story." Levy stated as she noticed Lucy's less than thrilled expression.

"She's on a one way bus to margarita Ville and who knows when she'll be back." Lucy replied as her head neared Levy's with an intense stare. "I mean oh my god Levy! Ya should have seen it! There's like twenty guys all gathered around her at the bar, just watching her pound drink after drink! It's ridiculous! I couldn't even get near her!" Lucy exclaimed, her eyes going wide and her arms rising up some, but not too high as she was still holding the two very full glasses. Levy couldn't help, but laugh at Lucy's reaction and at Cana's antics.

"I kind of wish I had!" She replied earning a smile from Lucy now.

"It was pretty funny, but it also means we're going to have to wait now to leave. Luckily I at least had a few dollars on me, so I was able to buy us these!" She cheered holding out one of the glasses towards Levy, who took the cold wet glass hesitantly. It was a large glass, full to the brim with ice and some kind of blue liquid; it also had a cherry and a lemon wedge on the rim. "It's a long island iced tea." Lucy stated. "Since we're going to have to be stuck here, I figured we might as well drink a little to break the ice."

"Yea… makes sense." Levy replied eyeing the glass in her hand as its condensation ran down the sides.

"Try not to let it go to waste, because I used the last of my money on them… unless you have any?" Lucy replied, adding the question at the end. Levy just gave her a bright looking smile and shook her head, her eyes closing.

"Nope!" She opened her eyes. "Sorry Lucy, I was kind of counting on Cana." At that Lucy let out a breath and let her arm fall uselessly in front of her.

"Yea… me too. Last time we ever agree to let her 'fund' our night out." She stated as if annoyed. "But whatever! It's fine!" She added as if trying to convince herself of that, making Levy laugh once again.

"It will be!" Levy replied ringing her free arm with Lucy's free one. "Now come on, if we're going to be stuck here we might as well make the most of it!" Levy said smiling brightly as she began to lead the blond.

"Oh yea? What's gotten into you?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow as they began to walk through the crowd. "It's like your mood's done a 180." She added with a laugh. "You're acting like the Levy I remember before last weekend!" Lucy exclaimed referring to Levy's normally chipper attitude. Overall Levy was usually a very positive person, cute and upbeat, but lately the stress had been weighing on her hard since the incident with Jet and Droy the weekend before.

"Aw, I just wanta enjoy a night out with my best friend is all! I'm so tired of feeling sorry for myself. Let's just have some fun." Levy spoke pausing to glance up at Lucy with her large eyes. "Deal?"

Lucy also paused to glance back up at Levy, noticing the sincerity and seriousness that came over her friend's features. Then she felt herself smile at Levy blissfully.

"Deal." She answered and then the two girls continued their walk towards the crowded dance floor of the club.

After a few minutes of sifting through the ocean of people Levy and Lucy had finally made it back to the outskirts of the dance floor. The music was blasting around them forcing them to rely on body language to communicate with each other, unless they shouted or spoke right into the other's ear. They decided to remain near the outer edge of the dance floor for the time being so they could drink a little before trying to really dance amongst the tightly knit group of dancers.

Within minutes of drinking the cold liquid Levy could feel the power behind the beverage she was sipping. It was a lot stronger than she had imagined it would be, especially for her tiny low tolerance body. She could feel the burn of tequila on her lips as it splashed around the insides of her stomach, making her whole being warm. She had only had about a fourth of it, but she could already feel her brow dampening and her cheeks flushing. She looked from the glass in her hand to her friend who was already beginning to dance a lot more as she also sipped at her drink.

She could feel the beat of the music through the floor and she couldn't help, but move along with it faintly as well. Lucy had already downed about half of her drink and Levy could swear the blond was already feeling it as she watched her. How strong were these drinks really? It was entirely possibly Lucy was just doing it to make her laugh, but Levy couldn't really tell. Either way she was definitely getting a kick out of watching the blond move. That was until she felt her chest constrict tightly and her stomach drop as if she had stood up too fast.

Levy's head snapped up at the odd chilling feeling, as it was all too familiar. She looked over her shoulder and was met with two red irises with black slit like pupils staring her down from across the room. It was Gajeel, still there dawning her with that intense stare of his, this time the difference being she had caught him in the act. Before if had been as if she felt the weight of his eyes on her, but hadn't actually spotted him. He was standing there with his back leaned up against the wall of the club, he had one foot propped up and his arms folded over his chest, with one hand clutching a half empty glass of gold liquid.

They met eyes for a brief second and Levy just glanced long enough to notice he was smirking at her before looking away, her head snapping forward again. Her eyes were wide as they went to the floor in front of Lucy's feet. It was like there was no escaping him and she didn't no what to do about it other than to ignore him completely, but that was easier said than done. She could literally feel his eyes scaling over her form and it was especially hard to ignore him when she knew right where he was standing.

She closed her eyes for a moment, as her brain started flooding with images of their earlier encounter. _No! Stop it Levy! Don't you see he's doing this on purpose? He's trying to get to you and you can't let him. You can't let him win!_ Her thoughts were screaming, _you came here to have fun with your friends, don't let Gajeel of all people get in your way_! Levy opened her eyes, her brow going crossed with a determined face. _That's right_, she thought as her head went back up, her fists clenching into tight balls as she let the wave of chills wash over her, in attempt to rid herself of the uneasiness he brought on. The knowledge of his presence looming over her like a human being looms over it's own shadow, even when he was probably a good fifteen feet away. She held her head up proudly, before bringing her eyes back to the drink in her hand, _maybe this will help me forget he's here_. And with that thought Levy brought the drink to her lips and tipped it back as if trying to down the whole thing in a matter of seconds.

Lucy stopped dancing for a brief second as she noticed Levy downing her drink. The blond quickly reached up grabbing Levy's arm causing the girl to stop, before she could get much of the liquid down her throat. Levy just glanced at Lucy unaware of what she was doing by stopping her.

"Whoa take it easy!" Lucy was shouting over the noise, her voice just barely audible. "Remember we only have one, what's the hurry?!" Lucy asked with a shrug.

Levy just looked at her friend with an uneasy smile and let out a nervous laugh. Lucy was watching Levy for a moment as the shorter girl paused; she was trying to think up an excuse she could tell the blond for the hasty action. But it was in these few seconds that Lucy's chocolate eyes shifted off of Levy slowly, to something that stuck out behind the shorter girl in the distance.

Levy was watching Lucy now as her eyes grew abnormally large and her mouth fell open and her finger came up clearly pointing at something. She had a pretty good idea of what her blond friend was fretting about, but she turned her head to glance over her shoulder again, just to be sure. Her heart pounded against her chest as she saw exactly what she had feared. Just as she had suspected Lucy had finally noticed Gajeel standing there, eyeing her. She quickly turned back towards Lucy praying he hadn't seen the fearful look in her eye, grabbing the blonds' pointing hand and forcing it down, bringing Lucy's face close to hers.

"L-Levy!" Lucy was uttering into the shorter girl's ear clearly alarmed by the large scary looking man with his eyes in their direction. "That guy over there! I'm pretty sure he's staring at you!" She was exclaiming, causing Levy's hand to go up over the blonds' loud mouth.

"Shh Lucy! I know!" Levy snapped. She had suddenly grown paranoid of Gajeel overhearing them, even though there was no way he possibly could over all the noise. Lucy blinked at Levy, once the smaller girl's hand was removed from her face.

"You noticed already?" Lucy questioned. "Well why didn't you say anything?! We could of left this spot!" Lucy practically shouted at the girl as if outraged. Levy paused, looking to the side with a roll of her eyes before answering.

"Wouldn't matter anyways…" She stated blatantly. "He'd probably still find me either way. I figured I'd just try to ignore him." She added, her head turning just enough so that she could see his dark shape in the corner of her eye. Lucy watched Levy for a minute, her face perplexed and her non-drink hand going to her hip sternly.

"Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that you know that creep?!" Lucy questioned as Levy looked back at her guiltily. Her eyes darted up to the ceiling immeditally and she hesitated before speaking.

"Well… I mean… You could say that." Levy answered trying to be vague, but Lucy wasn't buying it.

"Levy!" Lucy exclaimed earning the girl's large eyes back. "What the hell?! How- how do you..." She began to say as her eyes went back up to the man who was staring right in their direction with an evil smirk. She could feel herself gulping as she once again took in his huge frame and long hair, his many visible piercing and scars. She removed her brown eyes quickly as she could swear his red ones were piercing right through her and Levy's back. "How the hell do you know him?!" She finally choked out as if startled by this news.

Levy narrowed her eyes on Lucy for a moment quickly coming up with something she could tell Lucy about how she knew Gajeel that wouldn't involve anything legally sensitive. She slowly turned her head back to where Gajeel was standing, matching eyes with him almost instantaneously. He made no movement as Levy sent him a hard glare, if anything his eyes just bored into hers with far more force as if nothing she could do could scare him away. Levy could feel herself breaking and then she finally snapped her head back towards Lucy letting out a deeply frustrated breath, before glancing up at her friend with an irritated expression. Lucy just watched Levy, her face doing nothing to hide how baffled she was.

"Well?" She finally asked expectantly

"You remember that roommate I had sophomore year?" Levy questioned, causing Lucy's eyes to glance up as she pondered the question for a moment, a finger on her chin.

"Hmm… yea... I think so. I didn't know you all that well back then, but I think I remember. She had dark hair and glasses right? And was an archeologist major or something? Didn't you say… she is the reason why you live alone now?" Lucy asked back. Levy watched her with a less then pleased look as she continued. "Yea… and she was always spouting nonsense about dragons once existing... or something?"

"Yep you got it. She'd be the one." She answered.

"Yea…" Lucy recalled thoughtfully her eyes finally landing back on Levy. "What about her?" Levy rolled her eyes again as she thought back to that night; she could feel her stomach rolling uncomfortably at the memories.

* * *

><p>It was well past midnight by the time Levy finally made it home to her apartment building, after a long day of constant running around and the worst part was the work wasn't over yet. She was climbing the stairs to her apartment as she thought about the long night of cram studying she still had ahead of her. This whole entire week had been hell, she had easily worked thirty plus hours between her two jobs and still had classes and homework to deal with on top of it all.<p>

Luckily her job as a student worker in the library of the university allowed her some time to work on her assignments, but her waitressing job was not nearly as forgiving. Unfortunately the money she got in tips was too good for her to quit, not only that, but the four hour shifts were easy to work around her school schedule. She would have most of her classes first thing in the morning, one right after another, then a shift at the library until the evening when she would have to go to the restaurant and work until close. Sure it was exhausting, but right now the restaurant needed her, seeing as they had some people quit on them and the extra money was too helpful to pass up.

Although Levy could feel the regret within her now as she climbed the last few stairs to her floor, her feet and legs aching, her eyes tired. She knew she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, what with the test she had bright and early. She hadn't been able to make much time to look over the material due to her hectic schedule that week.

She slowly approached her apartment door, reaching down to dig out a key from her bag. She unlocked the door and opened it quietly, reaching to her right to flip a switch illuminating the room.

They lived in a large one bedroom apartment, it wasn't exactly ideal having to share a bedroom, but it was much more affordable. There was no way Levy could afford such a place on her own and all of the two bedrooms were just out of the question. She was just barely getting by as it was; basically living on extra food from the restaurant and their money issues being the whole reason she needed to pick up the extra available shifts to begin with. Luckily what the place lacked in bedroom count it made up for in size, as the open kitchen and main room were quite large.

Levy's eyes darted around the empty room taking in the overwhelming amount of silence. She glanced down noting that there wasn't a pair of shoes by the door. Her roommate appeared to be out for the night, she glanced up at a clock reading the time. It was almost one in the morning, she began to take off her shoes and set down her bag on a bench by the door.

She was still wearing her work clothes and she felt like she smelled of food and grime. _There's no way I'm starting this before I shower_, she thought to herself as she stepped into the bedroom to her left, not bothering to turn on the light. She marched past her roommate's bed to her dresser, throwing it open and quickly grabbing a pair of bedtime shorts and a tank top to wear for bed. She then headed out the doorway to the far room on the right, which was their bathroom.

Levy carried out the rest of her routine almost in a haze as she stripped off her clothes and began to shower, her mind so beat and ready for sleep as the hot water rained down. _Nope_… She thought… _You're going to have to suck it up Levy… You've got to be ready for this test tomorrow_... Then that was when she heard a door slam and some loud laughter through the walls of the bathroom, interrupting her thoughts. She narrowed her eyes in the direction of the door, peering through the shower curtain. _Hmm sounds like Daphne made it back_… She thought as she listened a little closer. _Does she… does she have someone with her?_ Levy's thoughts questioned as she thought she heard Daphne speaking to someone, it was hard to tell through both the door and the noise of the water. _Doesn't matter… I've got studying to do. _Levy's thoughts reminded her as she brushed the whole thing off entirely and went back to finishing her shower.

Levy made sure to take her time, letting the warm water and steam ease her stress, before finally finishing her shower. Once that was done she took some time to brush her teeth and floss before finally exiting the bathroom. She looked around, half expecting to see Daphne and a guest sitting in the main room, but it was empty. She looked down noticing only one shoe on the ground, one of Daphne's shoes… _Hmm_… She thought glancing up, her head looking towards the bedroom.

The door was shut and the room looked dark and it was still quiet. _I wonder_… She thought to herself as she started to reach towards the doorknob, her fingers gracing it lightly so that it didn't make any sound. She gently and slowly started to turn it and that was when she felt it stop abruptly.

Her eyes narrowed at this finding… _I knew it_. Someone was in there with her for sure and she could only imagine what the two of them were doing. She folded her arms in aggravation, it wasn't the first time it had happened, but it didn't mean she was accustomed to being locked away from her own bed. _Swear to god Daphne you better have him out of here by morning_. She thought as she remembered the last guy Daphne had brought home had stayed way past his welcome.

Levy turned away from the door and headed towards her bag, gathering her stuff and heading towards a desk along the wall of their main room. It didn't really matter all that much considering Levy wasn't going to have much time for sleeping anyways. She didn't really have time to dwell on the matter either as she set to work opening her books and getting out a notebook so she could write notes down for herself to help her remember things. She made sure to put a bandana back in her hair so that she could keep her messy bangs back and out of her face as she bowed her head over the large book. She also put on her red reading glasses and then she finally got started. About an hour of smooth sailing passed by as Levy read and jotted down notes, everything was quiet and Levy's focus was on high despite her exhaustion.

Then suddenly it all changed, as there was loud shrill scream that pierced right through the walls of their apartment, causing Levy to jump so high she almost tipped over her chair. The blue haired girl was on her feet in an instant, standing in her tiny shorts, her heart racing after having heard Daphne scream; she stood there for a moment not knowing what to do. The scream had been so high pitched as if Daphne was either in pain or was terrified of something.

Levy's eyes grew as wide as they possibly could, was it possible the person she had brought home was dangerous? Levy could feel herself beginning to panic as terrifying images began to race through her mind, images of Daphne cowering in a corner from a man with a large knife and then just lots of blood.

She stood firmly planted on her feet as another scream invaded her ears making her stare at the wall between the two rooms as if paralyzed by whatever was happening in there.

_Should I…? Should I call the police?! _She was questioning in her panicked state. _Is there even time for that?!_ She wondered, her body beginning to shake as she heard Daphne let out another yell from behind the wall_. I—I I've got to do something! I can't just stand here!_ Her thoughts screamed as a shaky hand began to reach towards the phone on their desk. Then her body jolted in fear once again as she began to hear Daphne yell some more, this time in more continuous spurts.

Levy was just standing there listening in horror as Daphne's voice continued to flood her ears in a series of terrifying screams. Her mind now beginning to picture the man with the knife coming after her next, surely he had to be finishing her off in there? At least that's what Levy was imagining from the crazy sounds and then that was when silence struck.

Levy stood there for a moment, her heart was practically beating out of her chest at this point. _Oh no_…. She thought. _He'll be coming for me next…_ and it was this thought that finally made her feet move as she raced towards the door of their apartment. She didn't even grab anything or put on her shoes, instead she just reached towards the doorknob and it wasn't even locked. Apparently Daphne could remember to lock the bedroom door, but not the important one. Levy would have dwelled on it more in annoyance if she didn't fear for her life at the moment. She threw it open and was about to step out when she heard another sound.

She hesitated, one foot already out the door, her head looking back towards the closed bedroom door with raised eyebrows. _Wait a minute. What?_

Then that was when she could hear Daphne's shouts once again, but this time they weren't just yells, there was actual words being made. Levy paused, her pounding heart beginning to slow down as she could finally make out what her roommate was shouting.

"Yes! Yes! YES!"

_Oh dear lord. _A hand came flying up to Levy's face in disbelief as she felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

"YES! YES! YES!" Came Daphne's screams, more ferociously than the first time. Someone was finishing her off all right, but not in the way Levy had imagined. Levy was cringing as she closed the door to the apartment, making sure to lock it. She slowly dragged her feet back towards her desk as she listened to more of her roommates' shrill screaming. She sat back down at her desk and stared at the open book in front of her as Daphne's yells continued to invade her ears, no longer making her panic, but instead just disgusting her.

She sat there for a moment listening to it all in a state of shock and distaste. She had never heard Daphne make such noises before and the whole thing was really quite unbelievable. It made her wonder what the heck he was doing to her. Levy hadn't brought anyone home since she had started living with Daphne considering they only had one bedroom. She didn't like the idea of forcing someone to deal with that, not only that, but she hadn't taken enough interest in anyone to actually do that with. She looked at the wall in front of her as Daphne's sounds still came floating through, realizing she herself had never made sounds even remotely close as to what Daphne was making at that moment during sex.

_Snap out of it Levy! _Her mind interrupted. _You need to just ignore them and get back to work. _She glanced up at the clock seeing that it was almost 3 A.M. already. _Great…_ she thought as she looked back to the wall with her tongue out. _That's going to be tough if she keeps this up._ She thought referring to Daphne's shouts that were still sounding off here and there. She sat there for a moment trying to shrug it off before leaning back over her book. It didn't really matter, because either way she needed to get this stuff in her head one way or another and so she began once again. _Besides it's not like their gonna be at it much longer from the sounds of it._

But as the hours passed Levy found she was eating those words. The screaming hadn't been constant, but each and every time Levy thought they were finally done, it would start back up again. Leaving her to wonder once again what the hell they were possibly doing in there! All the noise making it incredibly hard for her to concentrate, but she toiled on through it all. Her hands running through her hair in frustration, her eyes bloodshot, her body sore and her mind both burnt out and incredibly angry as she forced her way through the slow process.

Finally at one point Levy had noticed that the noise of Daphne's yells finally died and stayed dead. She glanced up at the clock with two puffy and glossy eyes, it was almost six in the morning. Her shaky head slowly turned back towards her open book and then collapsed on top of it.

"I think… I'm just going to close my eyes for a few minutes…" She spoke to nobody as her heavy eyelids fell shut at long last.

* * *

><p>"Levy… Levy…" Came a deep voice in Levy's ear. <em>That voice… I know it. Who does it belong to again?<em> Levy's thoughts questioned in a haze. She could feel her head resting on something cool and hard; her body hunched over and in a chair, not her bed. Her eyes slowly blinked open as there was a gold light filling the room she was in, sunlight from the window.

Her head slowly turned onto her chin, her neck hurting as it was very stiff and she was slowly starting to remember where she was. Her eyebrows mangled together in confusion and her eyes squinted from the brightness, as she lifted her body up slowly from the desk. _Wait… I thought I heard someone_? She thought as she reached up for something digging into her face, near her eyes. It was her glasses; they had been pressed up against her skin, leaving indents. She was just pulling them off and setting them down on the desk when she heard the voice from her dream return.

"Hey shrimp." _Shrimp…?_ Levy's mind repeated, taking a few seconds longer than normal to register what she had just heard due too her sleepy state. Then it hit her like a bucket of ice-cold water, her eyes shooting open all the way, as she realized he was standing right behind her. The only person who had ever called her that name, her head whipped around and there he was with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Glad to see yer finally awake." He was wearing a black wife beater and his usual white baggy pants, his feet bare. His toned arms were folded over his chest as he stood proudly looking down at her with his laughing red eyes.

"Gajeel!" Levy shouted, jumping to her feet as she leaned back against the desk as if trying to get away from him. "What the hell are you doing here?!" She screamed in both shock and outrage. Gajeel's arms unfolded as he exposed his teeth before speaking,

"Gi hi! Isn't obvious?" Levy didn't even respond to the question, she just pointed towards the door instead.

"Get out! NOW!" She screamed, her hand shaking, clearly nervous of his sudden random appearance in her home.

"Wow, well that ain't very nice." Was all he said as his grin disappeared and he folded his arms, his eyes closing. Levy stared at him in disbelief, her body still quaking in fear. She didn't understand why he was there in her apartment, was he after her? Did he think she told about Bora maybe? What was he going to do to her? She was very much afraid of him and greatly bewildered by the way he was acting, as if this was a perfectly normal, casual thing. She had thought she would never see him again and yet here he was standing only feet away from her in _her_ apartment.

"What do you want with me!?" She gasped out, making Gajeel open his eyes and shoot her a more serious look.

"Man, yer really freakin out." He stated. "Just breath. I ain't here to hurt you if that's what you think." Levy stared at him for a moment with her doe like eyes taking in what he had just said, as she was still backed up against the desk, her tense body beginning to ease some.

"You're not?" She questioned softly. Gajeel watched her for a moment, his red eyes slowly scaling over her body, as he couldn't help, but notice the rise and fall of her chest as she took each shaky breath. His eyes gliding around the contour of each breast, which he could see, perfectly outlined in the tank top she had on. Then trailing down to her heavily exposed thighs and naked legs. The shorts she was wearing were so short and tight; it made it hard for him not to stare at the wholeness and scope of her backend. He quickly looked away though, just as the thought crossed his mind.

"No." He answered flatly as he felt heat on the back of his neck. Levy glanced down at the floor; air was floating out of her mouth in relief. She looked back up at Gajeel as his head was turned elsewhere; it was as if he was trying not to look at her. His arms were folded over his thick chest and Levy found herself staring at the shape of each spiraling muscle that went through them.

"Okay… Well then…" She hesitated. "Why are you here?"

"You've got a roommate don't you?" Gajeel answered her question with one of his own. Levy's eyes went wide as the pieces were finally sliding together with his last words.

"YOU!" She screamed, an angry finger pointing in his direction accusingly. Gajeel's eyes widened some at the reaction, as he stared at her in wait of what she was going to say next.

"What?" He asked not understanding where the sudden outburst was coming from.

"You are the whole reason I didn't get any sleep last night, that's what! You kept me up all night with whatever the hell you were doing to her in there!" She pointed to the wall behind her now, where the bedroom was. "I want to kill you right now!" Her arms flew up above her head. "I was trying to study! You made if practically impossible!" Levy finally finished her rage, her voice at top volume; her anger was so forthcoming that it made her dizzy. Gajeel was just staring at her blankly; he looked caught off guard as silence filled the room. Then after a few seconds he started to smirk at her, making Levy's arms fall to her sides in aggravation.

"You heard all that eh?" Levy had to roll her eyes at the question; she was about ready to pull her hair out.

"Of course I did! I live here!" She shouted as if he were slow. Gajeel snickered at her now before leaning forward some.

"So does that mean _you'd_ like to know, what the hell I was doing to her in there?" Gajeel asked taking the words right out of Levy's mouth. She just stared at him, her brow low with annoyance.

"I think I have a pretty good idea. Okay, thanks." She answered back curtly folding her arms. Gajeel's eyes wavered up and down Levy's form again, making her cheeks feel warm as she just realized what she was wearing.

"Really?" He asked taking a step closer. "You sure you ain't at all interested after having to listen to it _all night long_?" He questioned smoothly, taking a second step closer to her as he brought his face down near hers. "Cause I know I'd sure as hell like to hear _your_ voice sing to me in rhythm." Levy stood there her face going beet red, she couldn't believe he had just said that to her. He was seriously hitting on her, after just having sex with her roommate!

"Get out of my face, you don't even know me!" At this Gajeel backed up and looked at her with a wide side smile.

"I do know you. Hell, I know you better than what's her face." He replied referring to Daphne. "Levy McGarden." He said her name, making Levy look at him oddly.

"How do you- have you been stalking me or something?!" She questioned as if alarmed.

"Don't be crazy now… Just think back for a minute, I bet you can figure it out." He replied. Levy paused for a moment thinking back to the night she had first seen Gajeel, trying to remember it all. It wasn't all that hard seeing as she couldn't forget it even as much as she wanted too. Her eyes got wide and she shot him a look full of realization.

"My books!" She exclaimed. "I left them there in the alleyway. I remember going back for them the next day and they were gone. Then being really upset that I had to go buy them again." She glanced down. "They were so expensive… I had my name on them." Gajeel nodded at her. "You took them?" She asked.

"Yea, course I did. I couldn't leave them there with your name and prints on 'em."

"I see." She responded. "If someone had found them close to that fire or close to where you had…"

"Bora." Gajeel spoke the name as Levy hesitated. "Yea… you get it now. Didn't wanna leave any kind of evidence that could cause you trouble." Levy looked at him with sad eyes.

"Why… why did you do that?" Gajeel scoffed at her question.

"Cause you shoulda never been involved in the first place." He answered. "It was my fault you got tied up in the whole thing. The Salamander set that building on fire to stop me while I was interrogating Bora in there. He distracted me and Bora got away."

"The Salamander?" Levy repeated.

"Some idiot, look, never mind it. The point is, I was sloppy. And I ain't gonna let someone like you, get caught in the crossfire's of my mess." Levy glanced down again, her eyes looking forlorn.

"You know you told me to forget that night, but I haven't been able to." She glanced up into his eyes. Gajeel couldn't help, but get lost in the innocent gaze she was sending his way. "I still wonder what you did to him and I feel the guilt of knowing I couldn't do anything to stop it." He stared at her for a few seconds allowing her words to take heed. She wasn't the only one who felt that way, because ever since he had met her he also had been plagued with guilt whenever he thought of her over the things he did. In fact he could feel it now as she graced him with her large doe eyes and all he could think was that it was all her fault he felt that way now. Gajeel closed his eyes and let out a breath

"Look… I didn't kill'im." He finally stated, wondering if he would regret telling her this.

"You mean he's alive?" Gajeel couldn't help, but sigh.

"How the hell should I know?" He snapped back. "I'm just sayin I didn't do the job."

"You… you turned him into Jose didn't you?" Levy suddenly asked, her voice high with realization. Gajeel looked at her now with wide eyes as if not knowing what to say.

"How the hell-?" He started, but Levy cut him off with a point of her finger.

"That symbol tattooed on your arm." She answered as she pointed at the black mark on his right shoulder. Her hand then dropped down before continuing, "I've had time to think about it and I've seen it before; it's an insignia, the Phantom Lord Enterprise." Levy folded her arms, "And everyone in this town knows of the man behind that organization. The only question is, why has he got someone like you working for him and what has he got you doing? I mean… talk about shady. As far as I knew, Jose only involved himself in legal business, but now I'm not so sure." Levy asked raising an eyebrow at Gajeel, who was staring at her as if mortified by everything she had figured out.

"You better keep those questions to yer self!" He snapped, getting angry.

"Is that a threat?" Levy questioned.

Her voice was so defensive, making it clear she didn't understand the severity of his warning and Gajeel couldn't stand for that. She needed to grasp the consequences of her own words and so he approached her without warning. She backed up against her desk in fear as his large body began towering over her small frame. "S-stay back!" Levy replied, her voice shaking as she watched his hand come towards her. She slammed her eyelids shut and cringed as she felt his large hand take hold of her bare arm, just below the shoulder in a jerking motion. "Please!" Levy hollered her voice pleading.

"Levy." Gajeel growled her name, his hand was still wrapped around her bicep, but he made no other movement then the initial jolt of grabbing her. "Levy!" His voice barked. "Levy look at me!" He snapped finally making Levy cautiously open one eye. She could see his face looking down into hers with a very serious look as if his very life depended on what he was about to say. She opened both eyes and turned her head to look at him fully now.

"W-What is it?" She uttered out, a sickening feeling washing over her.

"Nobody can know who I work for, you got me? You can't tell anyone." He stated, his voice demanding.

"Don't you think you should have thought about that before you got that tattoo?" She replied bravely despite how panicked she felt in his grasp.

"Levy! Just promise me you won't say anything!" Gajeel shouted becoming irate.

"I won't!" She finally yelled back. "I hadn't planned on it anyways! Don't you think if I was going to tell anyone, I would have done it already?! It's been almost a year Gajeel!" Gajeel paused at her words his red eyes piercing into her large gold ones. They looked glossy and full of fear as he searched them for sincerity. He was so close to her now and his hand was still in contact with her skin and he knew he needed to back away. He finally let her go, his fingers sliding off her arm and then he rose up, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Good." Was all he said next as Levy once again eased her body off the desk.

"Good? That's all you have to say?" She questioned now sounding outraged herself.

"Why? Am I forgettin' something shrimp?" He questioned, as the tension between them began to fade.

"I don't know?!" Levy cried out exasperated. "First you're in my apartment waking me up! Then I find out you were the one keeping me up! Then you tell me you already know my name when I never even told you it! And then all this other 'stuff' too and you just end it all with 'good'? I mean really?! What am I supposed to do with that Gajeel?!" Levy finished, practically out of breath by the end of her long rant. Gajeel blinked for a moment, his arms folding and his signature grin filling his face again.

"Well, I could think of a few things _we_ could do." He replied making Levy scoff in disgust.

"Haven't you done enough of that for one night? It felt like I was listening to her screams for an eternity." Gajeel's eyes glanced up towards the ceiling.

"Yea tell me about it. That bitch is crazy." He replied, "She kept goin on about dragons… and then next thing I know she's callin me one. It was fucking weird, I mean granted she was drunk, but is she usually like tha-?" Gajeel glanced back down at Levy as he spoke who was shooting him a shut-the-hell-up-I-am-not-amused-by-this-story look and so he finally stopped talking. " Oh..." He said, before continuing, "Now that's quite the look. What's a matter shrimp? You jealous?" He asked with a smirk. "Must be hard to not want it, after having to hear it."

"Just get out of my apartment." Levy replied flatly, pointing towards the door for a second time. "I've got a test to take in about twenty minutes, I don't have time for you Gajeel." She added, her tone clearly impatient. Gajeel looked at her for a moment, his grin never fading.

"Look at you, such the hard worker and the perfect student. Do you ever have any fun?"

"Get out!" Levy snapped causing Gajeel to lift up his hands.

"Fine, don't worry. I'm leavin'. I don't wanna be here when psycho bitch wakes up anyways." He stated, as he started heading towards the door.

"Oh, that's real nice." Levy stated. "If you really feel that way, then why did you sleep with her?" Levy asked as she watched Gajeel grab his large black boots. He sat down on their bench and began slipping the first one on. He just shrugged slightly as he put on the second boot without even looking up at her as he felt her eyes on him.

"Cause it was easy and I am a man." Was all he said making Levy just stare at him as if sickened by the answer. He looked back up her, catching her look with his red eyes, no smirks on his face this time.

"Why do you care?" He asked in return.

"I don't." She spat, making him smile weakly as he stood back up walking away from her to grab his shirt.

"Yea… alright." He replied from over his shoulder. His voice sounding so disbelieving, but he didn't argue with her and so Levy stayed quiet even though it annoyed her.

Then finally much to her relief he was on his way out the door at and she was following behind him so that she could lock it once he was out, but of course he couldn't just leave without getting the last word in. He took a step out into the hall of the complex, but then turned back to her again, before she could close the door all the way.

"Until next time shrimp?"

"No Gajeel. There won't be a next time." She muttered, before slamming the door. Gajeel just stared at it and laughed before walking away. Levy stood there on the other side and all she could think was, _this… this is my life…_ And it was that thought she hurried to her room to get dressed.

* * *

><p>"No way!" Came Lucy's yell just as Levy had finished telling her the story. She had made sure to leave out basically the whole part about how she had already met Gajeel once before. "You mean Daphne hooked up with that!" She questioned her finger pointing towards Gajeel. Levy grabbed Lucy's hand and ripped it down again, shooting the blond an annoyed look. As if it even mattered if she drew more attention to them at this point, considering Gajeel was still staring at them.<p>

"Yes, and I had to hear about it for days after. About how great the sex was as if hadn't heard it enough already during. It was so annoying, she didn't even know his name, but I do." Levy replied as she turned back to look at Gajeel blatantly with a hard stare. "Gajeel Redfox, and he's bad news." She replied her eyes staring daggers at him as his smirk widened into a fang-revealing grin, those red eyes of his were laughing at her just as they had that morning.

* * *

><p><strong>So there ya have it, I know the characters I choose are kinda odd, but it's more fun to use cameos from the show than to just make some up. They worked enough for what I needed. Loke should show up in the next one. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter, please let me know and if you didn't let me know why. Feel free to ask me questions in reviews or with PM's.<strong>

**Look here! Did I get your attention? Good, because I just wanted to make sure to say ****Thank you ****to all who added this fic to their favorites list. To anyone who added me to their favorites list, to my followers and reviewers, but most of all thank you for just reading my story. I love to write and even more to share it so I really can't thank you guys enough. It makes my day to get a notification from this site.**

**To my Reviewers****:**

** .39566: **(by the way for some reason fanfiction won't let me type out your name :/ Seriously, I fixed it like four time and it always just goes back to being numbers for what ever reason. So sorry about that.) Ha, are you happy I didn't make Gajeel a killer? I didn't necessarily plan on revealing that just yet, but I thought it might give Gajeel and opportunity to do something nice, but helping ease Levy's guilt. Anyways glad you are enjoying the suspense and thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you will keep reading!

**Shizuka23: **Wow thank you! My aim is set the stage and create a scene one can picture in their head normally and yes! Their whole relationship is a series of bumping into each other and you'll just have to wait and see if he's able to finally win her over. And by the way your review was hilarious! Thank you so much for that, she does need to just jump him already, he's more than willing! Thank so much for reading and leaving that awesome review!

**Sacnicte:** Oh this was so funny, yes I'm all about sexual tension and we'll just have to see how much longer she can resist, so here's more and I hope you can enjoy it until next time. Thank you so much for taking the time to review and for reading as always!

**Gildedcarouselhorses: **I'm so pleased to hear that you are invested in this, because I have a lot of really cool ideas for it, so I hope you'll keep reading! And it's fun writing the bad Gajeel, I find the parallels between Phantom Gajeel and FT Gajeel so interesting and I don't think there are enough stories about what he used to be like. Can't thank you enough for reading and reviewing!

**Miri:** Oh thanks so much! It's quite a relief to hear someone say that the characters still feel 'in character' even though they're living in a totally different world. I hope you'll keep reading and thank you so much for reviewing!


	4. Fangs

**A/N: Back again FINALLY! Sorry for the long ass delay… First I got a little stuck on one part, then all through Aug, Sep & Oct I have been working a shit ton of overtime as it is our busiest time of year at work as well as our busiest year ever! Like record reaching sales, I guess technically that's a good thing, but it gets in the way of at home stuff… On top of that I have been busy every weekend, went out of town, ya know, bla bla bla *****que excuses. Whatever! I can't really promise I'll update every week with the way life has been going, but I shall try to be better and hopefully you won't have to wait THAT long again without warning. Work is at least slowing down finally and around the holidays it gets REAL slow so we should be good from this point moving forward. Okay now that, that's out of the way…**

**Here's 20 pages of story to make up for my long absence! Also just a warning, this chapter has some darker themes in play...  
><strong>

**SHOUT OUT: My fellow writer pal Crimsonwolfko is working on a FT fanfic called 'Beautiful With You' that I have been helping her with here and there. It's the third story in an awesome AU trilogy which all involve Gajevy, also Lulo and some Gruvia, so go check out her stuff!**

**I apologize for any errors I may have missed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Recap: <strong>

"No way!" Came Lucy's yell just as Levy had finished telling her the story. She had made sure to leave out basically the whole part about how she had already met Gajeel once before. "You mean Daphne hooked up with that!" She questioned her finger pointing towards Gajeel. Levy grabbed Lucy's hand and ripped it down again, shooting the blond an annoyed look. As if it even mattered if she drew more attention to them at this point, considering Gajeel was still staring at them.

"Yes, and I had to hear about it for days after. About how great the sex was as if hadn't heard it enough already during. It was so annoying, she didn't even know his name, but I do." Levy replied as she turned back to look at Gajeel blatantly with a hard stare. "Gajeel Redfox, and he's bad news." She replied her eyes staring daggers at him as his smirk widened into a fang-revealing grin, those red eyes of his were laughing at her just as they had that morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Monster<strong>

**Chapter 4: Fangs**

Lucy had a perplexed gaze fixated on Levy's back as she mused over the story her smaller friend had just finished telling her about the man who was still staring wickedly in their direction. Levy didn't notice the blonds' pondering as she was too focused on sending her own menacing glare back towards Gajeel. The display of tension between the two while in the midst of their stare off was so thick that Lucy could swear she saw it manifesting a wave of dark energy between the two of them. Gajeel was eyeing Levy like a hungry wolf stares down a sheep before leaping into attack, but unlike a sheep, Levy was perfectly aware of him. Her body was stiff and strong, her feet firmly planted and fists clenched in animosity towards him; Lucy had never seen Levy look at anybody like that before. The whole thing was so _bizarre_ it had the blond scratching her head in confusion.

_What the hell is going on here? _Lucy's thoughts questioned. Okay… so sure, Gajeel had slept with Levy's roommate a year or two ago… And yea, sure, Levy had had to listen to it, in all of its awkward glory and then he had harassed her about it, definitely making him out to be an ass and maybe a sexual deviant. That was all understandable and Lucy could see why Levy didn't much care for a person like that, not to mention his overall appearance was just terrifying, but it still didn't explain the vibe of familiarity the blond was witnessing between them. It was almost as if Lucy was missing something, that one crucial piece of the puzzle that just made the whole picture come together clearly. She just kept asking herself… _Why, why are they looking at each other like that? _ There was just so much emotion hanging between the two of them, albeit negative, that Lucy could swear their history with each other was far more intimate than Levy was saying.

"Uh… Levy?" Lucy uttered, finally gaining Levy's attention back as she turned her head back toward the blonds' troubled features. The smaller girl's expression had immeditally relaxed once she ripped her eyes off of Gajeel and matched them to Lucy's.

"What is it Lu?" She questioned, as if nothing peculiar had happened. Lucy reached a hand out to Levy's shoulder, gripping it tensely.

"Are you alright?" She asked seriously, her face grim. Levy just blinked at the blond, not quite understanding. "What I mean is…" Her voice got quieter and her face closer, so that Levy could hear what she was going to say over the music of the club. "Is there something you're not… telling me about-" Lucy's eyes motioned towards where Gajeel stood, but then dead bolted back to Levy's, "Him."

Levy's eyes grew significantly at Lucy's words. Her mouth fell open and her eyebrows mangled in worry._ Does Lucy know more than I thought? _Levy's mind questioned as she could feel herself beginning to panic. _Wait, how could she? I didn't tell her anything else…_ was her next thought. She kept her eyes skimming back and forth over Lucy's hard stare as she continued to think worriedly. _Unless! Unless she's heard of Black Steel Gajeel before? Could that be it!? Does she maybe know Gajeel?_ Levy slammed her eyes shut as concern continued to cloud her mind.

Lucy was watching Levy with no idea of what she was _really_ fretting over, but the blond did clearly notice that her friend looked distressed, from the way the smaller girl was acting. Lucy was now sure the suspicion she had been hinting towards was dead on and it made her greatly fearful for Levy. The hand she had rested on Levy's shoulder squeezed tighter making the smaller nervous girl open her eyes.

"Levy… I know you're scared, but you can tell me…. If that man is stalking you, you need to tell someone!" Lucy stated firmly.

"What?" Was all Levy could choke out, completely flabbergasted by the blonds' conclusion. Lucy let go of Levy's shoulder and turned away from her so that she could fold her arms to the best of her abilities while still holding her drink, just in an effort to send Gajeel her own crossed angry look.

"If he's after you, then he's in for more than he bargained for!" The blond cheered out boldly.

"Wait… Lucy. No..." Levy was saying, but Lucy had now moved her free hand to her hip.

"I'll send Natsu after him if I have to! He wouldn't blow off something like this! In fact, I think I'll go send the jerk a little warning right now, then maybe he will leave us alone!" Lucy cried out as she began to charge towards Gajeel like a women on a mission. He noticed Lucy coming towards him, but didn't appear at all impressed by the blonds' dagger stares. Before Lucy could get more than a few steps away Levy was grabbing her arm and pulling her back.

"Lucy wait!" Lucy stopped to turn and look at Levy.

"Levy! What are you doing?! Somebody's got to go tell this asshole off or else he'll never leave you alone!" Lucy replied outraged, as she turned to walk away again.

"But he's not stalking me!" Levy cried out, stopping the blond again, this time. Lucy's body paused and Levy just sat there and watched as the blond slowly turned to look at her with an even more confused face than before.

"He's not?"

"No." Levy answered bluntly, shaking her head. Lucy brought a finger up now.

"Then I don't get it." Was all she said, Levy looked at Lucy with a tilt of her head and her eyebrows pushing together.

"I told you everything already. What more is there to get, exactly?" She questioned the blond.

"You!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing at Levy this time. Then her arms went up, "This whole situation! The way you were looking at each other, I've never seen you look at someone like that before! You look so pissed off… If he's not stalking you, then what's the deal?! You can't tell me it's just the roommate thing! And the way he's looking over here, it's creeping me out!" Lucy finished, her arms going down.

"He's just trying to get to me. That's what he does." Levy replied calmly.

"I think he's trying to eat you." Lucy stated, making Levy's eyes go large.

"Lucy!"

"What?! You don't think so? What kind of look do you think it is then? Can you please explain it to me Levy? Huh?!" Lucy replied curtly.

"Just shut up or he will hear you! I don't want him to know we're talking about him, because then he wins! I just want to ignore him…" Levy answered, folding her arms

"What… Hear us? Seriously Levy? What is he, a dog? He can't hear us from all the way over there." Lucy stated as she glanced Gajeel's way, then looked back at Levy like she had lost her mind. "Besides I still don't understand what's going on between you two, I still feel like you're not telling me something."

"Alright!" Levy unfolded her arms and shot Lucy and annoyed, but serious glare. "He came up to me when you were at the bar, okay! Are you happy with that answer?" Lucy moved her head back to look over her friend slyly.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere at least." She answered arrogantly, making Levy sigh and bring a hand to her forehead. "So… What did he want?" Lucy asked next, letting the word hang as Levy let her hand run through her hair in frustration.

"He just wanted to bug me!" She snapped, making Lucy glare at her disbelievingly with an eyebrow raised.

"Is that all?" She questioned sarcastically and Levy nodded. "Oh come on! You must not think very highly of me, if you expect me to believe that! I think he came onto you!"

"Would it matter?!" Levy replied, "It's not like I would go along with it anyways!"

"Ha! I knew it!" Lucy cried out with a finger and a satisfied smile. "He did come onto you, didn't he? You are a terrible liar Levy." Levy's arms fell down at her sides as she looked up at Lucy with her own eyebrow arched this time.

"So what?." She gasped out. "What's your point?"

"My point is, you rejected him and now he is staring at us, or did you forget? Because I can't and I don't like it." Lucy replied.

"Just ignore it."

"That may work for you, but I on the other hand…" Lucy started to say as she whipped around. "I think I'm gonna tell him off…" The blond mumbled, making Levy grab her again before she could walk away.

"No! No! Please Lucy, don't!" Levy cried out making the blond glance at her again, due to how desperate she sounded. She looked at Levy's pleading gold eyes. "Please don't talk to him Lucy. Please just do as I ask and let it go this time."

"But Lev-"

"I know you don't understand, but just trust me on this one. Please, let this go." Levy begged, desperately not wanting to get Lucy involved with anything having to do with Gajeel. He was trouble with a capitol 'T' and that was the last thing Lucy needed right now, but there was just no good way to explain that to the blond without revealing things she couldn't say about him.

Lucy paused; taking in the seriousness Levy's face carried and the worry tone in her voice. Levy continued as Lucy watched her, now feeling like maybe she was breaking through to the blond,

"Why don't we just move more towards the center of the dance floor? There will be so many people there he won't be able to see us…" Levy offered her head turning towards where the crowd was packed, her eyes still holding the weight of worry in them.

"Okay…" Lucy finally answered, her mind deciding not to push the matter any further. "If that's what you want, but Levy… If something was wrong you'd tell me right?" Lucy asked, making Levy smile at the blond both thankfully and relieved.

"Of course I would Lucy. As I said earlier, please don't worry." Levy reached up and grabbed Lucy's free hand. She could still feel the weight of Gajeel's red eyes on her with every move she made. "Lets just go dance." Lucy looked at her face for a moment and then smiled.

"Yea! Let's do it!" She cheered as she allowed Levy to pull her into the tight crowd. "Besides-" Lucy started to say as the two girls weaved through the dancing bodies to try and conceal themselves from Gajeel's stare. "I still got half my drink left!"

Just as Lucy uttered these happy words a body shoved hard into her side, nearly knocking her over. Luckily Lucy caught her balance so that she didn't fall, but her glass was not so lucky as it flew out of her hand and shattered on the ground. Lucy paused staring at the broken glass near her feet.

"My drink!" Levy stopped after hearing the glass break and turned back towards Lucy.

"Lucy? What happened?" She questioned catching her friend's enraged look.

"Oh… Someone is going to pay..." Lucy growled between gritted teeth, her head going up and glancing around.

"Well wait who-?"

"Oh, were you the one I bumped into? I'm sorry about that…" Came a polite male voice from behind the blond. Levy looked up to the person who had spoken to them. The first thing her eyes fell on was his wild mop of red hair, which flew out in most every direction in large thick sweeping locks. The overall shape and color of it reminded her of a lion's mane, because of the way the strands framed and cascaded around his face, and what a face it was…

This man's features were graceful, from his nicely angled and symmetrical brow, to the length and subtleness of his nose. His cheeks were full, giving him a very boyish charm appearance, but his jaw line was finely pointed which provided his face with a balance of masculinity as well. His whole look was made complete by two large luring eyes, masked in a pair of shades that rested on his nose. The shape and narrow cut of them gave him an intense almost regal appearance as though he were a man of weight and righteousness.

Slowly Levy glanced down, taking in the rest of him briefly. His body was lean and of average height with very light skin. He was finely dressed in a burgundy button up shirt and nice black pants and black dress shoes. The most noticeable thing about his physique was the build of his proud shoulders and strong posture; as a whole he was a very good-looking guy.

He stood there looking at Levy apologetically as he continued to speak in a warm, but charming voice,

"It's just so crowded in here." He was starting to say. Levy looked from the man speaking to Lucy's face. The blond had yet to turn around and see the person speaking to them and ultimately taking responsibility of the hate crime against her drink. Her brow lowered in annoyance for a brief second before she slowly began to turn around just as the culprit began to speak again,

"I was trying to be careful, but…" His words trailed off as he watched the blond stand up straight and turn around to face him fully now. Lucy greeted the stranger with a clearly upset expression as if on the verge of an outburst, her dark eyes practically in flames.

"I…" He was starting to say as he looked over Lucy's face. Levy was watching the two of them now, the man's eyes had gotten wide once he got a glimpse of Lucy's face and he seem to forget what he was saying for the moment. Lucy on the other hand looked about ready to explode, Levy felt herself swallow nervously, _here it comes_… She was thinking just as the blond finally snapped.

"You what?!" Lucy cried out, "Careful?! You made me lose my drink! How is that careful?! And I'm broke! Not to mention stuck here, because of my drunkard of a friend! I was fine with all of that though! FINE! Fine with my dad harassing me! Fine with my best friend ignoring me! Even fine with being stuck in this hellhole of a club for the night, with all of it's bitchy people and staring creeps, because at least I had my drink! But now! NOW it's gone!" She pointed towards his chest as she continued to unload all of her stresses on the poor soul. "And it's all because of you! Now how the hell am I supposed to have a good time?!" She finished, glaring at him, her eyes burning.

Levy was watching them nervously as if another 'incident' was about to break out like earlier. She ran a hand through her blue hair, _why does this keep happening to me…_ She thought hopelessly as she awaited the trouble Lucy's outburst was sure to bring on. There was a long pause as the man before them just blinked at Lucy with wide eyes, drinking her in as if she was something he needed to see now, otherwise he might never get another chance. She just had her hands on her hips, her eyes closed and her face stern with anger as she waited for either another apology or a fight, almost anything really, but what he said next.

"Wow." He uttered. Lucy opened her eyes and glanced up at him as if confused by the one word sentence.

"Huh?" The blond let out, Levy was also looking at the man greatly confused. Then without warning his hand was coming up and reaching for Lucy's, taking her hand into his gently. Lucy looked down at the cupped hands he held up before her, noticing the coolness of a large gold band on his index finger. She stood there frozen as her mouth fell open, why was he touching her all of the sudden!? She slowly and rigidly moved her head up to look back at his face; he was smiling at her serenely, but his eyes full of confidence as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"You are so beautiful." He stated, his tone full devotion yet assurance, as if he knew what he was saying was brilliant. "And passionate!" He added, making Lucy's cheeks immeditally flush a bright red as her mouth fell open. Levy's face didn't look much different, just less vibrant at the handsome stranger's bold words.

"I-I-uh… what…?" Lucy choked out nervously as her body began to quiver awkwardly. The man bowed his head to her some, bringing her hand up closer to his face.

"I can see you've had quite the rough night and I hate that I have added to that. I hope you will forgive me." He spoke as it became clear he was going to kiss the top of Lucy's hand like an old fashioned gentleman.

"Oh-you, you don't haveta-" Lucy was stuttering between breaths as he gently touched her hand with his lips briefly. "Oh-well ok…" She uttered as he brought her hand back down and his eyes back up to hers. She looked back, feeling paralyzed by the look on his face. _Oh my god… did he actually just do that?! Who does that kind of thing anymore?! Who is this guy?! _Her mind was questioning frantically as he looked at her serenely, she could feel the warmth in her face only growing with each passing second in his sights, her heart was beginning to pound harder and her body was beginning to feel twitchy as he let go of her hand.

"Nonsense." Was his response to Lucy's earlier protest, "I want to be a proper gentlemen." He added as he brought a hand up to his chest with the other hand going out towards her. "So please let me make it up to you…" He finished.

"Uhh…" Lucy was saying as her head shifted in Levy's direction, but her eyes stayed glued to his sincere face. "Levy…?" She whispered out from the side of her mouth nervously.

At this point Levy had gotten over her shock and was smiling coyly, as if she might burst out laughing at any second. The polite man seemed completely taken by Lucy despite how rude she had been and Lucy just hadn't any idea on how to handle it. Levy brought a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggling as she answered her distressed friend.

"Yea…. Lucy?" She asked back slyly.

"You wouldn't happen to know this guy too, would you?" The blond questioned quietly under her breath as the red haired man smiled at her. Levy giggled lightly before answering,

"No definitely not. Sorry Lucy!"

"Greaaat…" The blond replied rolling her eyes then looking back at the man who was waiting patiently. He paused for a moment once Lucy's attention seemed to be back on him.

"So what do you say? Would you let me buy you a drink? To make up for the one I made you lose that is?" He questioned politely, that charming smile widening.

"I…um… well…" Lucy was beginning to stutter, making Levy roll her eyes then elbow her sharply. "Ouch..! Oh… What I mean to say is, I'm sorry, but I don't really know you so I'm not exactly comfortable… with that…" The blond finally answered as she rubbed her elbow awkwardly. This answer caused Levy to fold her arms and aim a disappointed glare at the blond for turning him down even though she knew it had everything to do with her feelings for Natsu. She elbowed Lucy again, making the blond yelp and glance over at her annoyed friend.

"What're you doing?" Levy whispered with a hand in front of her mouth and a crossed look towards Lucy. "You should say yes!"

"What? But I don't even…" Lucy began.

"So?!" Levy snapped, cutting her off. "What happen to what we talked about earlier? The, 'how you never put your self out there' thing… ya know, because of Natsu… And the 'we should take a page from Cana's book thing…?' Remember?"

"Oh yea… that…" Lucy replied looking away sadly.

"Yea that! He's good looking _and_ polite Lucy… Even after you yelled at him! What the hell are you thinking?!"

"Ah... damn…" Lucy began to say regrettably. Meanwhile the man was just standing there watching the two of them for a moment as they quibbled back and forth to one another under their breath, hiding their words with their hands and whispers.

"Um, ladies?" He questioned hesitantly not wanting to interrupt. They both glanced up at him, their arms shooting back down to their sides as if they just remembered he was still there. "It's quite alright." He started to say. "But for what it's worth I am very sorry I caused you to drop your drink… I'll just leave you be…" He started to turn away, that was when Levy pushed Lucy forward.

"Oh hey!" The blond gasped out as she tripped forward practically running into him, her arm went forward, her hand landing on his forearm for support. The man gently turned some his hand touching Lucy's shoulder in a half attempt to steady her shaky balance.

"Whoa!" He replied with a light laugh as Lucy's body rose back up now at a normal standing position. "You alright?" He asked her, looking right into her eyes. Lucy glanced up, his shades had fallen down his nose some and Lucy could now make out the olive green color of them as they bore into her. Their bodies were now very close and she could feel her face warming up again as she realized how pretty his eyes color actually was.

"Yea…" She began, finally letting go of him. "I'm fine." She answered taking a step back, she rubbed her elbow with her other hand and smiled awkwardly, "Just… embarrassed."

"No need to be." He replied, smiling brightly with eyes closed. "After all I'm pretty sure I'm the klutz here." Lucy paused taking in his smile, he really was an attractive guy and he seemed to be very kind. It was hard for her to admit that to herself, but she definitely could feel his affects on her.

"Yea… Speaking of that… are you by chance still interested… In you know… making it up to me?" Lucy questioned shyly, her words hesitating. There was a pause as Lucy glanced down waiting for his reply; he turned back to face her his eyebrows going up in surprise.

"Of course!" He answered excitedly. "But first…" He held out a hand towards her suddenly.

"You brought up a good point before, when you said we don't know each other… Soooo" His other hand went up sweeping the locks of his red hair. "Maybe we should _get_ to know each other. My name is Loke and who might you be?" He asked smoothly

"Oh I see… Right!" Lucy replied lightly, taking his hand gently. "I'm Lucy."

"Lucy…" He spoke her name softly his eyes going up almost dreamily for a second before he looked back at her. "That's a beautiful name for a beautiful person." Loke stated once again as he kissed her hand, making her laugh awkwardly. She slid her hand out of his grasp, as she hadn't expected him to do that a second time, let alone the first.

"Uh… you don't have to do that every time…" Loke looked at her and laughed modestly.

"I apologize Lucy if it makes you uncomfortable." He answered graciously bowing his head slightly and closing his eyes.

"Oh no! It's not that! I just… I guess I'm just not used to guys doing that, that's all." She replied embarrassed. Loke looked at her with amazed eyes as if what she was saying was ludicrous.

"Really? I would have never of guessed that! That's a shame; any man should only be so lucky to get to talk to someone as gorgeous as you." Lucy's face was glowing red once again and her eyes were staring at the ground.

"I uh… I.." She paused not knowing what to say, Loke bowed his head catching her chocolate eyes with his as he smiled at her.

"Am I embarrassing you?" He laughed and Lucy just nodded.

"Kind of… not used to all this… flattery." She answered glancing up at his inviting smiling. He brought his head back up.

"Well I can't be sorry about that." He stated seriously as he looked up. "A girl like you should be used to it. In fact, you should be showered in compliments on a daily basis! And besides…" He began looking back at her with another charming smile. "You're embarrassment is too cute for me to stop now." He finished making Lucy's heart pulse again as all words had escaped her brain.

Loke watched her for a moment completely enjoying every second of what he was putting her through, before shifting his eyes onto Levy who was trying not to laugh at her best friend's beet red face. He smiled at the smaller girl warmly and offered his hand to her as well.

"And who might you be?" He questioned politely. Levy smiled up at him stepping closer and bringing her free hand up to meet his.

"My name is Levy, no need for the formalities." She answered brightly as Loke kissed her hand as well.

"I apologize ladies, it's just my way." He answered warmly as he let her hand go. "Especially when in such lovely company." He added glancing at the two of them.

"Well that's quite alright then, we could stand to hang around a gentleman once in a while!" Levy answered with a laugh as Lucy just mumbled under her breath, her face still red. Loke smiled at Levy brightly, before speaking,

"So how about we head to the bar now and I buy both of you pretty ladies a drink?" At this Levy held up the hand that was holding her house drink still, that was only about halfway gone.

"Oh that's okay Loke, I still have a lot of mine left. You two should go and I'll just stay here." At this Lucy's head snapped up and she looked at Levy with large fearful eyes.

"Are you sure? I really don't mind, after all who could complain about having two beautiful girls as guest?" Levy just laughed at him and shook her head.

"I'm sure, you and Lucy go…." Lucy suddenly grabbed Levy's arm.

"You have to come!" She whispered, her face getting close as if scared. "I can't do this alone Levy! Don't leave me!" Levy's eyebrows crossed over her brow as she ripped her arm out of Lucy's grasp.

"Stop it Lucy! You can do this, you'll be fine!" Lucy brought a hand up to her warm face.

"No… but what if I say something stupid! What if I bring up Natsu!" Levy glanced at Loke over Lucy's shoulder; he seemed to be looking down. Levy could tell he was checking out her butt while she had her back towards him. She looked back into Lucy's chocolate eyes seriously.

"I don't think it will matter." She stated bluntly. "He's already clearly into you… now just go…" She pushed Lucy some, making the blond step back away from her. "Just go with it, you'll be fine!" Lucy paused and looked at Levy with large almost sad eyes.

"Will you be though?" She asked her voice louder, not caring if Loke heard them now. "Even with… you know…." Levy let out a breath as she looked at her friend with an annoyed arched brow.

"Of course I will be! Now just go! I'll be right here when you get back, I promise!" Levy said as Lucy began to turn away awkwardly. Loke suddenly brought and arm around the blonds' shoulder making her body go stiff as she glanced up at him in shock as they began to move through the crowd. He smiled down at her kindly; figuring if she didn't like it she would just push him away.

"It's okay, just trying to help." He assured her as he helped her push through the crowd around them. Lucy swallowed nervously as she felt his fingers lightly touching her bare shoulder, her body trembling with nerves. _It's okay_... She told herself. _I'm fine… I can do this… _Her eyebrows lowered some as she tried to put on a brave face. _I have to do this… for myself… It's time… It's time to move on._ She thought as she made her path towards the bar in Loke's safe grasp.

* * *

><p>Gajeel was watching the crowd from his spot along the wall when he noticed the blond girl that had been accompanying Levy walking off towards the bar with a carrot top. Seeing them made his eyes dart around the room carefully in search for any sign of Levy', but he couldn't seem to spot the shorter girl anywhere. He lifted his body up off the wall he had been leaning on and unfolded his arms, letting them drop back down to his sides. He downed what was left of his drink and stared at the empty container in his hand. <em>Eh… Maybe it's time to head out<em>… He thought to himself until he noticed the shape of a body standing before him. He glanced up to see Thibault's ugly face glaring at him with his usual large grin.

"You leavin' buddy?" Thibault asked him sarcastically. Gajeel couldn't help, but notice he was holding an empty glass in his hand and he seem to be feeling it some.

"Get the hell outta my way!" Gajeel sneered. Thibault held up his hands defensively.

"Hey alright! Alright now... No need to be so hostile. I'll go, but first…" He neared Gajeel slowly with a mischievous grin. "I couldn't help, but notice _you_ were lookin' at _someone _earlier…" At this Gajeel's eyes grew and his look intensified on Thibault ten fold. "Ah see…" Thibault said with a wink and click of his tongue. "You can't even hide it… That look says it _all_." He taunted with a finger pointed at Gajeel like it was a gun.

Gajeel said nothing for a moment as he could feel his anger intensifying within him to a degree he had yet to feel that night. It was taking everything in his will power to not knock the idiot out as he clenched a shaky fist at his side. _He better not… He better stay away from her… Or I'll…_ He quite honestly didn't even know, he wasn't sure what his anger would drive him to do.

Thibault was noticing how even the mere mention of the girl he had seen Gajeel staring at earlier was affecting him and he couldn't help, but get a small joy out of it.

"Aw… what's a matter? You mad bro?" He answered sarcastically. "Don't see why ya should be. If you like her so much then why don't you just go find her on the dance floor? Pretty sure that's where I saw her go." He asked mockingly. Gajeel bit down, his mouth went open showing his clenched teeth and prominent fangs as he closed his eyes "Hmm… Are you maybe… not… interested anymore?" Thibault asked suddenly with a hand on his chin as if he were pondering Gajeel's silence. "Or maybe… she's the one who isn't interested? Am I right? That probably explains it…." Thibault added smugly, before shrugging. "Either way she's fair game right?" Gajeel opened his eyes and sent Thibault a look only best described as death.

"You better keep away from her, you fucking filth… Or I'll-"

"You gonna hit me in front of all these people?" Thibault questioned cutting Gajeel off. His face lighting up with an almost evil looking grin, his large square teeth exposed. "I think you could deal without the attention, don't you?" He added as he began to turn away. "Besides… I'll take my chances after getting' a look at that ass of hers…" He started to say as his body turned away from Gajeel.

It was these words that finally pushed Gajeel over the edge, he lost all control and reached out like a snake striking. His mug fell from his hand and hit the ground with a thud as his hand made contact with the back of Thbault's shirt, but Thibault had been expecting him to attack. He had started to turn evasively just as Gajeel had made his move and was able to twist out of Gajeel's grip, his glass falling from his hands and shattering in their struggle. His head turned back to send Gajeel and ugly yet arrogant smile.

"Wow you actually tried, huh? Can't believe yer that stupid!" But as he said this Gajeel was lunging towards him, making his face became scared as he realized he wasn't out of danger yet. Thibault jumped forward and headed towards the dance floor hastily out of fear, Gajeel chased him up until the point where Thibault began to squeeze his way through the bodies in panic. Gajeel stood there for a brief moment looking at all of the packed people, his mind lost in his angry thoughts. _This is just fucking perfect_… He thought as he realized he needed to force his way through them, but he didn't let his annoyance stop him as he began to push his large body forward.

* * *

><p>Levy was standing among the dancers alone again; her body swayed some to the music, but not too much all due to the drink she was still holding. She eyed the glass in her hand oddly questioning if she should even bother finishing it at this point. She was thrilled to have possibly found Lucy a guy, but now she was just lonelier herself. This night hadn't really gotten any better where she was concerned and she was starting to consider just throwing in the towel on their failed 'girls night' by just calling either Jet or Droy to come pick her up. She figured it was about time she forgave them anyways and she really didn't like the idea of making Lucy and Cana leave just, because <em>she<em> was miserable.

A vision of herself, curled up in a blanket with her pajamas on and a book in her hands came to mind. The whole premise of the vision seeming much more inviting than trying to endure the rest of the night on the loud packed dance floor._ Yea… I think going home is the right move… I think that's what I'm gonna do_. She thought as she pulled out her phone, _it's time I talk to those guys again anyways… I can't stay mad at them forever_… She thought, but just as she went to text Jet, she heard a yell among the loud music.

She glanced up in time to see a lanky looking man's head above some of the crowd as his body pushed through some people into her clearing. His beady eyes landed on her face as he stood before her causing her to look at him with puzzlement as she could see the panic all over his features.

"Please lady!" His deep voice thundered out fearfully. "You've got to help me!" He cried out.

"Wait what?" Levy uttered out confused, but the man looked up towards the crowd and yelped. Then without warning he was moving quickly behind Levy's small frame almost as if he was trying to hide from someone. Levy glanced up to where he had been looking completely bewildered, when she suddenly spotted Gajeel's large body pushing towards them. _Oh no_… She thought grimly, her face falling into a deep frown as he now stood before her.

Gajeel's red eyes were narrowed with anger, his sights aimed on the man who was now cowering behind Levy's small body. His face was graced with disgust that Thibault should be anywhere near Levy, let alone such close proximity.

"Thibault!" Gajeel's voice growled with fangs exposed, ignoring Levy's pointed glare up at him. Thibault just cowered before him now, acting like a complete fool as Levy glanced over at him from over her shoulder then back up at Gajeel. "You fuckin weasel! Enough games! You stay away from her!" Gajeel shouted.

"Gajeel?!" Levy hollered, making Gajeel finally look at her.

"What the hell is going on here?!" She asked severely annoyed. Gajeel just pointed at the man behind her as if enraged.

"This idiot!" He stated. "He's mine!" He barked making Levy glance down at the cowering man just behind her. She couldn't help, but feel a moment of déjà vu as she realized she was the only thing standing between Gajeel and another man's life potentially once again. But this time the circumstances were in her favor, for one thing they were surrounded by people, not only that, but she had the advantage of knowing Gajeel better now.

"Why?" She asked looking back up at him bravely. "What do you need him for?" Gajeel's fist clenched tightly.

"Doesn't matter!" He snapped back. "Just hand him over!" Levy's eyes grew large at the response, as she looked him up and down. Gajeel looked very tense, something she wasn't used to seeing. She also realized she hadn't ever seen him appear so angry before; every word he spouted was an overly aggressive shout. She reminded him of a rabid caged dog; with the way he appeared to be struggling with his rage, trying to hold it in and keep in contained.

"No." She answered simply. Her voice contradicting his own with its calmness, only serving to upset him further.

"What?!" Gajeel exploded, Thibault on the other hand was grinning madly. Gajeel stomped his heavy boot before her and then moved his body in such a way so that his large size hung over Levy in an attempt to intimidate her.

"Levy…" He growled breathlessly trying his best to contain his anger. "Move outta the way…"

"No, I won't do that this time Gajeel…" She answered defiantly making him snap his head away from her, his body shrinking back down. He let out an almost animal like growl out of frustration before turning back towards her with his arms up like he wanted to strangle her; his fingers were curled up almost like claws.

"You don't understand! This isn't like last time!" Gajeel exclaimed, his tone urgent, but still angry. "This guy is BAD!" Gajeel pointed at Thibault. "Bad Levy!" He added, his fangs showing.

"Bad, like you are Gajeel?" She suddenly asked making his eyes widen. "You told me your work here was done for tonight! That was obviously a lie, because here you are getting into trouble once again! Tell me why I should trust you?!" Levy replied, becoming equally upset now as he heart pounded. Gajeel stared at her with shock evident in his eyes as he was starting to realize how bad this situation truly was. She didn't believe him… and there wasn't anything he could do about it!

"Because I don't want to see you hurt!" Gajeel raged back. "You don't understand the situation Levy, but you need to listen to me!" He answered, but Levy had had it with him. She had been harshly reminded of what Gajeel was capable of when she saw the scared man named Thibault's face and realized whom he was running from. A vision of the man named Bora's bloodied and broken face from her and Gajeel's first encounter also pulsed through her mind. She glanced back up at Gajeel seriously, looking over his cold dark features. It was time for her to snap back to reality… No matter what she thought of him or how he acted towards her it didn't change the fact that Gajeel Redfox was nothing, but a thug.

"No…" She began, shaking her head, making Gajeel's mouth fall open. "No!" She snapped, her voice stronger now as all her anger came flying forward. "I know what will happen if I let you take this man! And this time I'm not gonna let that happen! I won't swallow that guilt a second time!" She pointed at Gajeel now accusingly. "And you! For once in your life why don't you just be honest and leave Gajeel! Leave me alone, like you said you would!" She snapped now moving her pointing finger out in the direction of the exit.

Gajeel looked at her with wide eyes after having to endure her outburst. She had made it clear she was done listening to him and that there wasn't about to be any more debate about what she was going to do. Gajeel clenched his teeth so hard that he could hear them crunching in his ears, as he suddenly felt very helpless and beyond angry at her stubbornness. There was brief pause as he stared into her rage fueled hazel eyes.

"FINE!" He answered back, his voice rising to new heights. "But don't you blame me if you get hurt!" He added, shouting at top range now, then he brought his head down towards hers, his voice becoming quieter again. "But for the record, I have _never_ lied to you!" He added with a hard piercing stare, before finally turning away from her.

Levy watched as he began to stalk away practically knocking people down as he forcefully pushed his way through them. Her face was heated with anger as she watched him go, but something inside was making her stomach twist into tight nervous knots. The words he had said… She was actually questioning them, despite her anger. Had he really never lied to her? It was true that there was a lot of stuff he didn't tell her, but now that she actually had to think about it, she had never questioned anything he _had_ told her. She hadn't ever realized it before, but what he said may of very well of been true. She just didn't know if he had ever lied to her before…

"I owe you a thank you!" Levy turned around at the voice. There stood the man Gajeel had referred to as Thibault looking down at Levy with a large toothy grin. Levy found his happy face a bit creepy, but she smiled despite herself, it wasn't like her to be rude. "He woulda had my hide if it wasn't for you! How did you do that anyways?" Levy glanced down awkwardly, her face flushing slightly.

"Oh well… Let's just say Gajeel and I have some brief history, that's all…" She answered looking back up at him. "Honestly… I don't really want to talk about it."

"That's fine, I don't blame you! I wouldn't want to either!" He brought a hand up to his mouth. "That guy's a real monster if ya know what I mean." He said quietly.

"Yea…" Levy replied half-heartedly with a weak laugh. "By the way, Thibault was it?" She asked looking back up at him.

"Yes mam." He answered reaching out a hand. "And I was too scared to catch yer name, what was it?" Thibault asked. Levy looked at his offered hand and then back at his strange face with his huge overbearing smile. _This guy is really creepy… like in a whole different way than Gajeel.._. She couldn't help, but think as she looked over him. Gajeel was at least something to look at, but this guy seemed to have nothing going for him. _Now… now Levy, you shouldn't judge people by appearance… You know better than that. He could be friendly for all you know… If anything you should at least be kind and not rude to him._ She slowly and hesitantly brought her hand to his, almost as if she wasn't sure she should.

"Levy…" She answered as he held her hand for a moment, his beady eyes looking over her white skin before he finally let go.

"Well then Levy, how about ya let me buy you a drink as a thank you for what you did?" He questioned enthusiastically. Levy paused for a moment; her stomach was still twisting uneasily as Gajeel's words rang through her mind.

_'This guy is BAD Levy!" "But for the record, I have **never** lied to you!" _

She glanced back down at the drink in her hand; for some reason her gut was telling her to heed his warnings. She held up her hand with the half empty glass.

"That's quite alright, because you see I still have half a drink left."

"Ah… C'mon why should that matter?" Thibault just shrugged and looked at her oddly before replying. "Yer about due for another aren't you?" He asked. Levy arched a brow at his persistence; it wasn't a good sign to her. She was suddenly feeling an instinctive need to get away from him.

"Actually…" She began to say. "I was planning on leaving originally and-"

"Oh really? That's too bad… But I can walk you to your car." He stated quickly, cutting her off almost as if we was too eager. Levy's eyes grew some at this, her bad feeling only intensifying now. She knew at this point it would be a mistake to go outside with him alone. She looked at him oddly trying to decide what she could do. Her plan had been to go outside in the parking lot and call Jet, but now it didn't seem like he was going to leave her be. She didn't want him to know she didn't actually have a car there… She could head for the bar where Lucy, Loke and Cana were most likely, but then what? If she didn't actually leave he'd probably just follow her there and hang around them, maybe insist on buying her a drink still. And honestly she wasn't sure she'd even find them among the masses of people. Then another idea occurred to her.

"Yea… I'll leave in a bit, but first I need to head to the restroom." She replied.

"Ah ok, I'll be waitin' for ya when you get out." Levy laughed nervously and he chuckled back. She couldn't help, but notice how those black eyes of his were scaling over her, his off putting stares provoking chills. The way he looked at her almost made her miss Gajeel's staring. She turned away from him with phone in hand.

"Okay! Be right back!" She replied as she quickly began to push her way through the people towards where the bathroom was.

Luckily it wasn't far; she busted through the door and immeditally set her drink down on the sink's counter followed by her nervous and shaking hands. She stared at her panting reflection in the mirror; she could feel her body quivering some in alarm. _I should have listened… _She thought. _I should have listened to Gajeel and then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess! _She thought banging her fist on the counter in frustration.

_But you didn't… and you can't change that now… _Her thoughts reminded her in an attempt to calm herself._ Instead the more important thing to do is to figure out how you're going to get out of it… _She let out a shaky breath she had been keeping._ Now just calm down and think Levy… _She thought trying to regain her composure as she glanced down at her phone, the wheels in her brain beginning to turn.

_I'll just call Jet now, while I'm in here… Then I'll just have him text me when he arrives. In the meantime I can stay in the bathroom while I wait for him… That way I won't have to be that creep's company anymore... Then when Jet does finally get here I'll just book it towards the door… There won't be anything he can do with all these people here… _She glanced back up at her reflection in the mirror, her complexion looked pale under the cheap lighting.

Then her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a toilet flush. One of the stall doors opened, the noises succeeding in making her nervous body jump. She had thought she was alone in the small bathroom. The girl who stepped out had pink hair with sweeping bangs and poufy curls at the ends. Her eyes were large and almost timid looking as she glanced up at Levy for a moment.

"I'm really sorry if I scared you miss!" She spoke in a soft weak voice. Levy just smiled at her weakly in return, she couldn't believe how jumpy she was.

"It's okay! Really… wasn't your fault. Just thought I was in here alone is all…" Levy answered making the girl nod in understanding. She approached the sink and washed her hands quickly, before walking out without another word to Levy.

"Yea…" Levy spoke out breathlessly to nobody now. Looking back down at her phone she started to search for Jet's phone number. "That sounds good."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Thibault was waiting just outside the door of the women's restroom unbeknownst to Levy. He watched the pink haired girl Levy had just seen open the door and step out. He quickly approached her, before she could walk away.<p>

"Hey!"

"What?! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The girl yelled out in alarm, closing her eyes with fist clenched looking like she might cry. Thibault tilted his head at her and hesitated for a moment out of shock from the girl's sudden fear.

"Oh… um sorry, didn't mean ta scare ya… Was just wondering if you saw anyone else in there? I'm looking for my girlfriend, can't find her anywhere and I'm just wondering if she went in the bathroom…" He asked nonchalantly.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" The pink haired girl bowed her head in apology before rising back up. "The only person I saw was a small girl, with blue hair…" She responded.

"Yup, that's her, thanks a million!" He cheered making the pink haired girl smile and bow her head quickly again.

"Happy to be of service sir…" She replied weakly before finally turning away from him to walk off. Thibault made sure to watch her leave, taking enjoyment out of the view that her short tight white dress provided, before his beady eyes darted around the room to see if anyone was paying him attention. Then he cautiously opened the door to the girl's restroom as quietly as he could. His thin body slid inside and leaned against the door, he glanced over and saw Levy with her back towards him. She was looking at her phone; he could see her frustrated face in the mirror.

"Damn reception!" she snapped out loud to nobody.

"Yea… it's a real bitch." Thibault smirked before speaking, his voice almost mocking.

Levy's eyes grew as large as saucers as she felt her heart suddenly jump up jamming into her throat out of pure fear. Her small form whipped around to see his body there in front of the door, blocking her only way out. He was smiling at her with those large square teeth, his face reminding her of a demented clown. Levy instinctively took a step back, with her arms out at her sides, one hand holding her phone.

"That was a nice attempt to try and get away from me..." He spoke now his tone and words finally revealing his true intentions. "No drink, good excuses… Yer a lot smarter than most of the girls I go after, I'll give ya that one…" He started to say as he stepped towards her. "It's gonna make me enjoy this even more I think…" He stated opening his long gorilla arms to block her from going anywhere. Their length made it impossible for her to even fathom getting past him. "Smart, pretty and the added bonus of you once being Gajeel's girl, couldn't get any better if I dreamed it up…" He added his voice so full of glee that it made Levy sick to her stomach. Then he let out his barbaric stupid chuckle as he took another step closer.

Levy's body was now shaking from head to toe as she realized how much trouble she was really in. She was slowly backing away from him, but the bathroom was already so tiny that she was soon to be backed into a corner. _What can I do?! _She thought. Her first instinct was to scream for help.

"HELP! Someone! PLEASE!" She cried out as tears began to gather in her large eyes just as her back collided the wall, with nowhere more for her to go. Thibault cackled at her attempts to yell for help and narrowed his eyes on her.

"You can shout and scream all you want! That's not gonna save you, that music is way too loud for anyone to hear you in here! In fact I recommend you scream some more! It might make things more fun!" He shouted back as Levy's wide eyes stared at his nearing form in disbelief. His long arms still keeping her trapped and cornered, never in her life had she ever felt so helpless as she did now. Her shaky hands brought her phone up quickly in a last ditch effort to try and call someone for help.

"Oh whatcha tryin to do there?!" He questioned his grin fading as his hand went reaching for hers. Levy took that moment to duck down avoiding his flying arm and then she pushed off the wall propelling her body forward in an attempt to try and run underneath it. She just brushed past him, her legs making a mad dash for the door. Just as she thought she had managed to maybe get away from him, something grabbed her and jerked her small form backwards with such force that her phone went flying out of her hand and across the room. She watched it slide across the bathroom tiles until it thudded into the opposite wall. Thibault had wrapped his large hand around her forearm as he jerked her back a second time.

"NO ya don't!" He shouted pulling her into his body, she pushed and pulled against him with all her might. Her free arm reaching out in an attempt to grab anything to help her get away, but there was nothing, but empty air between her fingers now. Her back was slammed up against his chest as his other arm went snaking around her waist, her head landing just under his long chin. He held her one arm back bending it out and around his frame painfully as his other arm locked her in place against him. Levy closed her eyes tightly as tears began pooling in her eyes; her mouth was letting out small whimpers as he continued to keep pressure on her thin arm, bending it painfully. Her back end was flushed against his and her whole body was trembling as she felt the shape of his arousal digging into her lower back. Her breaths were labored and full of panic as her heart continued to pulse through her entire being.

"Pleassee…" She begged. "I won't tell anyone if you just let me go…" She tried, her words breathless and shaky.

"Now, now…" He spoke mockingly as if trying to be soothing. She felt him pushing on her arm so hard that she felt like her elbow might snap, her mouth opened as a cry of pain flew from her lungs. "We're already here… can't stop now…" He spoke, before suddenly letting her go and pushing her small frame into the nearest door of a bathroom stall so hard that she crashed into it and fell on the ground. Her back hit the stall wall besides the toilet, she quickly struggled in an attempt to get up and get away, but it was too hard, because the lack of room she had. Thibault was hovering above her now inside the stall; he looked down at her with his deranged smile bringing a finger to his lips.

"Shh…" He said as he latched the stall door with both of them inside. Levy looked to him with wide eyes then to the floor. She got down further and reached at the wall under the stalls in one last attempt to try and crawl away underneath it, but Thibault was yanking her up as he brought himself down. His knees were now pinning her legs down, making Levy cry out from his weight. His arms and hands were attempting to grab her arms, but she was clawing and swinging at him as much as she could. Trying to fight him off with all of her strength, she could see his face becoming angry and then finally he got a good hold of her wrist.

He jerked her upper body up enough that her head was off the ground, then quickly jammed it into the porcelain bowl of the toilet so hard that the skin on the side of Levy's upper forehead split open. Blood came leaking out from the wound and the small girl's eyes that had been full of fight were now full of haze, her eyelids falling closed briefly.

* * *

><p>Levy blinked, her vision had blurred over into a swirl of dark colors and shapes. She felt an odd numbness wash over her and for a moment it was almost as if her body was rebooting. The first sensation that came to her was that of the cold hard floor against her back. The next feeling she was able to recognize was something heavy sitting over top of her legs keeping her stiff body pinned down. She slowly tried to lift her head, which now felt like it had tripled in weight, to no avail. Instead it just fell limply as her hazel eyes glanced around lazily. She couldn't make sense of where she was or what was happening at that moment. Noise had all, but disappeared, her vision wouldn't fully render and sensations seem to be coming to her slowly one at a time as she began to feel someone's hands on her. She closed her eyes for a moment, straining to remember whose they were; she couldn't think properly her mind was still dizzy and disoriented from the blow. Then she could feel a warm liquid dripping down the side of her face… That was when she knew; she knew she was in a bad spot.<p>

Now that she could at least remember that much, she attempted to try to move under the heavy body's weight, but she just couldn't. Her mouth opened as she tried to make words… it was so… difficult though, like everything she seemed to try. Her body and mind felt so tired now, but something was calling to her from deep within to not give up and continue to fight. Then that was when Levy finally heard sound again, it was her own voice she could hear as she almost subconsciously spoke out in protest.

"Noooo…" She moaned out groggily as she tried to lift her head again.

"Still awake?" She thought she could hear a familiar voice saying. "That's fine, I prefer that!" It was hard to make out all the words in her dizzy and confused state, but she knew she didn't like it. Then she could hear something tearing, she didn't know it at the time, but it was her jacket Thibault was ripping off of her. The next thing she could feel was cold fingers against her skin, making her cringe. She slowly tried to bring an arm up to push whoever was on top of her away, but she couldn't seem to move right. It was almost as if her head couldn't send the right signals just yet. Then another noise sounded off making Levy's exhausted head fall back to the floor and shift over. Her eyes were looking under the bathroom stalls in the direction of the bathroom door that she could see the bottom of. That was when she spotted the bottom of boots coming in through it as it opened.

_Gotta…. Call for help_… Her mind finally spoke, her first real coherent thought since hitting her head. Her mouth opened, but words wouldn't seem to fly from her throat, she closed her eyes tightly out of frustration. She could feel large vibrations through the floor and the sound of steps getting louder. Then another sound resounded in her ears, she didn't know it at the time, but what she was hearing was a knock on the stall door they were in.

* * *

><p>Thibault shifted his head up quickly out of annoyance.<p>

"Occupied! Can't ya see we're busy!" He shouted to whom ever was knocking with great irritation. He had kind of figured most women would just assume they were a lose couple just having a good time. He stopped all movement and listened carefully, his eyes on the bare skin of Levy's stomach and underwear as he had started to lift up her dress. She was laying on her back before him on the bathroom floor, her head between the toilet and stall wall, half underneath it. Her eyes were still open, but she clearly was still out of it, as they looked glazed over. The gash on her head was leaving a line of blood down the side of her face, some of it in her hair.

Thibault moved his head up listening to the person he could hear just behind the door, he started to hear steps. He let out a small breath as he realized they must have been walking away.

* * *

><p>A large crash sounded off, Levy felt the heavy person on her legs weight shift forward over her body, before finally being lifted off all together. There was a bright light that blinded her hazy eyes, as the stall door opened. She began to hear angry familiar yells, followed by anguished cries. Then a large shadowy person came before her, shielding her eyes from the bright blinding lights of the bathroom. She blinked briefly in an attempt to clear her vision, the outline of the person looking so familiar, she wanted so badly to make out who it was, but it was so hard.<p>

"Levy?!" A heavy voice cried out in alarm. Levy blinked again, trying to lift her head up, she knew that voice.

"Gajeel…" She moaned out weakly. She felt a large hand gently touch the side of her face.

"God damn it!" He cursed. "I shouldn't have left you…" At this Levy could feel herself suddenly smiling as she felt his other hand carefully lifting her head and back off the floor.

"I made you leave…" She replied. "It's my fault this happen..." She uttered out as all the memories were returning.

"Shut up… idiot..." He cursed lowly, "C'mon we need ta get outta here… Can you stand?" He asked, Levy could now make out his face for the most part. His eyes looked wide and full of concern. She glanced down at herself, she was sitting up now, her dress had been moved up some, exposing more of her lower half than she was comfortable with. Her shaky hands gripped the fabric of her skirt and she slowly pulled it back down before looking back at Gajeel who was kneeling beside her. His head was so close to hers, her eyes still felt lazy, but she could feel her strength returning.

"Yea…. I think so." She answered, before suddenly feeling a wave of pain in her head. "Ahh…." She let out a small cry of agony. "What the hell…" She moaned in a raspy voice as she brought a hand up to the spot where Thibault had slammed her head, before letting it fall forward some so that her forehead was now resting against Gajeel's shoulder, burying her face as the pain rocked through her.

"Yea…. Looks like you got clocked pretty good there shrimp… You're even bleeding so you might still feel disoriented for a couple minutes." Gajeel stated his arm almost wanting to go around her in a half embrace, but he kept his hand hovering over her, not wanting to make contact even though he wanted nothing more than to hold her now that she was safe.

He couldn't believe he had found her in this state, bloodied and beaten up on the floor. His heart was racing from the fear of what he thought he might find, but now he was just thanking the holy gods he had gotten there in time.

Originally after walking away from her, Gajeel had thought about leaving, but he just couldn't bring himself too out of fear of something like this maybe happening. His gut had been screaming about Thibault from the start and he wasn't surprised to learn that all of his instincts about the man had been dead on, but it didn't mean he was happy about it. If anything he was furious with himself for walking away… leaving her in danger when he had known better. Hell, Thibault probably wouldn't have even targeted Levy if it weren't for his interest in her. So as far as Gajeel was concerned her getting hurt was his fault in multiple ways. He could have prevented the whole thing from happening if he had just stayed.

"It's all my fault…" He breathed out.

"What was that…?" She asked, her voice slightly muffled as she slowly raised her head off of him, looking up into his eyes. He looked back and shook his head.

"Nothing shrimp… Now come on… We need to get out of here before Thibault recovers. I knocked him down, but not hard enough." Gajeel urged, his hands now gently resting on Levy's waistline. "C'mon I'll help ya stand."

"Okay…" Levy uttered out as the two of them slowly began to stand, with her leaning on Gajeel for support. Once they were up, Gajeel wrapped one arm around her waist and Levy did the same to him so that she could lean on him as she still got her bearings together.

The room felt like it was spinning slowly to Levy, but with Gajeel's help they slowly started to move forward out of the stall carefully. Just outside of it Thibault was sitting on ground against the bathroom wall, slowly rubbing his jaw where Gajeel had clearly punched him. He saw them and carefully began to get up as well.

"Gajeel…!" He shouted at them. Gajeel glanced at him with wide eyes before propelling him and Levy's bodies forward towards the door.

"C'mon shrimp! Move!" He spoke pushing the bathroom door open just as Thibault was on his feet. The two of them were now back out in the club with Thibault not far behind them. They began to move as quickly as they could among the crowd of people and neon lights towards the exit. Levy tried to keep her head low so that people wouldn't notice her bleeding; luckily Gajeel's body was big enough to cover her for the most part. Levy could feel all of her senses starting to fall back into place with each step they made towards the door; she once again was feeling fully coherent as they finally pushed their way through the last of the crowds. Gajeel kicked open the door and then Levy finally let him go as she felt the cool air hit her face. She could now walk freely as they headed into the parking lot, her dizziness basically gone; she glanced over to Gajeel with wide eyes.

"Now what?" She questioned hastily. Not believing all of this was happening, but not having time to dwell on it.

"You just get out of here!" He urged. "I'll take care Thibault."

"You mean he's still after us?" Levy questioned in astonishment.

"We lost him for the moment, but he's too much of a stubborn fool to let this go. He should be out here any minute so just go!" Gajeel ordered.

"Gajeel I can't! I don't have a car here! And my phone is inside!"

"What?!" Gajeel cried out in disbelief, just as Thibault's dark form came barging through the club's doors. His body was nothing more than a silhouette in the night with the lights of the club behind him. Gajeel turned towards Levy with wide eyes,

"Get out of sight Levy!" He cried out, pointing to a nearby car that she could hide behind. Levy quickly obeyed ducking down behind a Challenger's car hood, her eyes peeking over so she could watch as Thibault's angry lanky form approached Gajeel's large tall one.

She could see two dark forms against the lights of the club as they stood about eight feet apart from each other in the deserted parking lot. The ground was wet as if it had rained, making it look black and reflective. The night was relatively warm for fall, with a slight cool breeze, the only noise was the sound of leaves crinkling and lifting in the distance with each gust.

"Gajeel! Quit running!" Thibault cried out as he staggered before Gajeel with a finger pointing. "Cause I'm gonna make you pay for messing up my face!" He added with a pant as he took a labored breath.

"Fuck you Thibault! Is that all you care about?! Yer lucky I didn't fucking kill you for what I caught you doin! Yer a sick bastard!" Gajeel spat back, his arms going out and fist tightening at his sides, his muscles clenching in anger.

"Oh is that right Gajeel?! I'm sick? Are you gonna give me a lector about what I do?! What about you Black Steel!? What makes you think yer any better than me?! Well guess what, yer not! If anything yer worse! You've made a name for yourself doing all sorts of dirty deeds for that snake Jose! Actin' all high and mighty, just cause he can pretend that everything he does is legal, all because he's got everyone in his back pocket! HA! Don't make me laugh!" Thibault pointed at Gajeel, his movements were spastic, putting Gajeel on the defense as though he might attack at any second.

Levy was watching them now, her brow lowering over her eyes at what Thibault was saying. She had already come to these conclusions about the man Gajeel worked for, but that didn't mean actually hearing it straight from the sources mouth made it any less daunting. No matter what though, she knew who she would be rooting for, Gajeel had actually saved her this time, quite literally regardless of who he was or what he did.

"No! If anything, you're the sick ones! Justifying everything you do with money!"

"Fuck you Thibault! I don't make a hobby of attacking and raping defenseless women!" Gajeel shouted back, his stance strong.

"Oh yea… Yer gonna tell me you didn't want the same thing tonight?!" Thibault questioned. Gajeel just shook his head in disgust. "I'm just a man trying to fulfill his inner needs. I'm not any different than you are!" Thibualt added defiantly clenching a fist.

"NO! Yer nothing, but a dead man now!" Gajeel barked back. "You should have never messed with me Thibault…" Gajeel growled, his body lowering as if he was about to leap in for the attack almost resembling a cat getting ready to pounce.

"Not if I kill you first!" Thibault's voice boomed out as he suddenly lunged towards Gajeel not waiting for him to make the first move.

Gajeel gritted his teeth and dodged the first punch, as Thibault came at him with a heavy right and then smoothly followed up with a quick left jab. Luckily Gajeel had been ready for it and was able to block the left fist with his arm, but just as he did that Thibault was bringing up his leg to kick him in the ribcage. Gajeel stepped back to evade it, but the lack of footing made him misjudge the ridiculous length of Thibault's long arms as an uppercut was thrown his way.

Levy was slamming her eyes shut, as Gajeel couldn't regain his footing enough to bend back far enough. Ultimately Thibault's fist came flying up, making contact with Gajeel's jaw hard. Gajeel's head went up and back from the blow, but his large frame didn't fall back any further. Instead his feet stayed firmly planted and his head slowly came back down towards Thibault with an evil smirk exposing his now bloody fangs. Levy's eyes were now open wide again as she watched him in disbelief. She couldn't believe she had just witnessed Gajeel take a blow like that and still be on his feet, the sound of the impact had even made a cringe worthy popping noise.

"Is that all you got….?" He questioned, his voice sounding as if he were laughing. Thibault stared at him with wide disbelieving eyes.

"How-how!? How can you speak after taking a hit like that?!" Thibault stuttered out earning one of Gajeel's signature laughs.

"Gi hi! That's easy…" He spoke as he spat some blood from his mouth down onto the concrete. Then without warning Gajeel's arm was reaching out grabbing Thibault's still up and ready fist, holding his body in place as his other arm reeled back at his side ready to strike. "Because yer weak!" He shouted confidently as his fist came flying forward into Thibault's stomach so hard that the man stumbled back several steps once Gajeel let him go. His arms wrapped around his midsection in pain as he coughed out some spit. Levy couldn't help, but feel her heart leap as she watched Thibault gasp in agony from Gajeel's superior blows.

"Aw did that hurt…?" Gajeel questioned mockingly as he folded his arms over his chest. Levy was watching the two of them, witnessing the whole spectacle from her spot behind the car… _Get him Gajeel_…. She was thinking when she noticed Thibault make an odd movement, as he still stood there hunched over.

_Wait…. What is he… what is he doing?_ She questioned, then she noticed he seem to be holding something in his hands. He didn't rise up from his hunched over position, because he was trying to hide it from Gajeel's eyes. Her eyes went wide with realization and that was when she suddenly stood up.

"Gajeel! Watch out!" She screamed, earning Gajeel's attention for a brief second, "He's holding a weapon!" She cried, but it seemed like her warning was already too late as Thibault had already started flying forward, his body still hunched over, a knife in his hand. Gajeel glanced forward with wide eyes just as Thibault's body came ramming into him, his knife going forward and plunging through Gajeel's clothing and embedding into his flesh with a grunt and one eye wincing from the slicing pain.

"GAJEEL!" Levy's shrill screamed echoed out into the night between tears.

* * *

><p><strong>So…. there you have it… Do you guys hate me, because of this? Sorry. It just made sense… as I always say there's a reason why I do everything I do… I hope this chapter didn't feel rushed to you all, if it did please let me know. I had a lot to get through. And I'm so sorry about the long delay, it shouldn't be like that again without warning!<strong>

**Please be kind and take the time to tell me what you think through review if you can. I could really use the motivation. Please be constructive with criticism so that I may improve or tell me what you like. Ask questions, spin theories or don't, either way I shall respond to every review and PM's as well!**

**Just wanted to tell you all ****Thank you**** so much for reading this fanfic of mine! I love sharing my writing and telling a story, nothing makes me happier! Thank you even more for letting me out there with your reviews! Thank you for following me, favoring me, for following the story and favoring it as well! Plus you guys are hilarious as well!**

**Responses to my Reviewers****:**

**ZakuroUta7****:** I feel so honored that you chose to read my story first as your first GaLe fix! And I'm even happier to hear you are enjoying it! Gajevy may just be one my absolute favorite ships ever and if you are starting to get into them too, there are lots of great fanfics on this site to read! So don't feel limited to reading just mine, especially when I make you wait so long! Anyways I hope you will continue to read as I update and thank you so much for reviewing!

**Gildedcarouselhorses:** OMG! if it was me I would be all over Gajeel already too! That cracks me up that you said that! He's my fictional character crush, in case ya didn't notice already by this chapter! And it's good to know ya don't mind long chapters cause I write soooo much, I'm so happy you are reading and I hope you will continue! Thanks so much for reviewing and sorry about the longer wait!

** .39566****:** Ha! Your review made me literally LOL! Anyways yes of course! I would have to imagine Gajeel to be awesome in the sack cause I love him myself! And yes I feel like I'm cruel to Levy, even more so in this chapter, but things are hopefully on the rise for her! Thanks so much for your awesome hilarious review! I hope you shall continue to read!

**DBZRocks153:** Thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear you are enjoying it! Thank you for reading and even more for reviewing!

**Shizuka23****:** Wow I feel honored that my update was the high point of your week, in saying that, I apologize for making you wait longer. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me what you think of my writing, that's very important to me, the most important to me! And yes I picked crazy Daphnee just cause I needed someone annoying and she kinda fit the bill. I would say Levy's annoyance with Gajeel was definitely not unfounded considering what he put her through for sure, but deep down she was secretly wishing she could switch rolls with her roommate ;P She'd never tell him that though. And as much as I make Gajeel the 'bad guy' it's clear he's got a soft spot for Levy so no way would he want to burn her books! And as for giving them back… we shall see… I've got a lot of plans for these two. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! It makes my day to get awesome reviews like this one!

**Finny-Kun Goddess:** Well I'm very pleased to hear yer liking my story so far and I sure hope you enjoyed Loke's appearance, he should be back in the next one as well. Not sure how long his part will be, but… we shall see. Hopefully he was okay as I have never attempted him before. Anyways thank you so much for reading and the review! I hope you will keep reading!

**Guest:** Thank you so much! I'm happy you love it so far and I hope you will continue to read as I continue to write! Thanks so much for reviwing!

**Miri**: HA _I'm_ flattered that you _hunted_ my story down! That's pretty awesome to hear and your face shall hopefully stay red if not from Gajeel then from every time I respond! For if you review I shall shout! It's the least I can do for you guys to show my gratitude as nothing makes my day like getting to read a review from someone, knowing that their reading what I write. Yea, I kinda wondered if people would get at all mixed up in the flashbacks, I apologize for that. As of now there aren't anymore in the works as I think I've pretty much gotten most of what I needed to across for these two's history- that is unless the story keeps going past the potential ending point. In that case who knows. Glad you're excited, but I am sorry about the very long wait! I hope you will keep reading and thank you so much for reviewing!

**Its Kare Bear****: **I couldn't wait until I posted chapter 4 either, because it took me forever! Sorry for such a long wait, as for flashbacks… as of now I don't have anymore planned, that doesn't mean there won't be anymore though if extend the story. I'm happy to hear you are satisfied with my portrayals of Gajeel and Levy as that is very important in fanfiction writing and it can be a bit harder in AU's to make them believable in my opinion. Thank you most of all for saying I am and amazing writer, it fills me with joy to know someone enjoys my writing enough to leave me such a flattering comment! Thank you so much for reviewing, it means the world to me know people are reading what I write and even more that they are enjoying it! I hope you will continue to read!


	5. Claws

**A/N: Man if you guys only knew how long it takes me to write these chapters! And it's so freakin hard with how busy I am! Each and every night for the past two weeks it seemed like I could only get a paragraph done before I was passing out on the couch. But here ya all go, it's longggg….**** There's lotta Gajeel, Levy, Lucy and Loke… And some Cana too!**

**SHOUT OUT: Read my pal Crimsonwolfko's fics! Why?! Cause they're awesome, nuff said! I'm too tired to say more, just trust me on this one guys, ya won't regret it!**

**I apologize for any errors I may have missed.**

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><p><strong>Recap: <strong>

"Aw did that hurt…?" Gajeel questioned mockingly as he folded his arms over his chest. Levy was watching the two of them, witnessing the whole spectacle from her spot behind the car… _Get him Gajeel_…. She was thinking when she noticed Thibault make an odd movement, as he still stood there hunched over.

_Wait…. What is he… what is he doing?_ She questioned, then she noticed he seem to be holding something in his hands. He didn't rise up from his hunched over position, because he was trying to hide it from Gajeel's eyes. Her eyes went wide with realization and that was when she suddenly stood up.

"Gajeel! Watch out!" She screamed, earning Gajeel's attention for a brief second, "He's holding a weapon!" She cried, but it seemed like her warning was already too late as Thibault had already started flying forward, body still hunched over, a knife in his hand. Gajeel glanced forward with wide eyes just as Thibault's body came ramming into him, his knife going forward and plunging through Gajeel's clothing and embedding into his flesh with a grunt and one eye wincing from the slicing pain

"GAJEEL!" Levy's shrill screamed echoed out into the night between tears.

* * *

><p><strong>Monster<strong>

**Chapter 5: Claws**

Lucy sat there staring at the half full drink before her on the bar top, her eyes following the movement of a drop of water as it made its path down the side of her ice filled glass. There was a blissful smile on her lips and her cheeks were a warm shade of pink, as she allowed herself to get lost in the moment. All of the noise from the music and surrounding conversation were fading away, alongside all of her stresses and worries. And for the first time in forever Lucy felt truly as ease, to the point where nothing could touch her and she was enjoying every second of it. She had never imagined that it was possible for her to feel so relaxed at a place like this. The alcohol was slowly taking its effect, without her even realizing it.

"Now that's a pretty smile if I've ever seen one." She heard a smooth voice comment beside her, breaking through her tranquil vibe and bringing her back to reality. Lucy's head turned to glance at the man sitting beside her. He was leaning on the bar, his head resting in one hand as he watched her with a sly smile. His red hair sweeping over his forehead and his eye's lighting up through his specs, once she made eye contact with him. His gaze was so enticing that Lucy immediately glanced back down, her color deepening. Loke closed his eyes in delight as he once again noticed her embarrassment. "Sorry to embarrass you again, but you should smile like that all the time." He offered lightly.

"I'm having a good time." She replied cheerfully, but in a soft voice as she chanced a look back up at Loke who was still smiling at her.

"You weren't expecting to huh?" He asked, Lucy's eyes opened up some at his words in suspense, as she didn't mean to be rude.

"No-no it's nothing like that. I-just!" She stammered, but was cut off by Loke's laughter.

"It's okay." He responded, pushing his shades up with a hand to steady them over the bridge of his nose, before looking back at her. "Don't take this wrong way, but you don't strike me as the type of girl to come to these kinds of places." He spoke politely. Lucy blinked at him for a moment, surprised that he had guessed her right.

"You're right, I'm not." She answered before lifting a brow at him, "But how did you know that?!" Lucy began to look over herself as if alarmed as she continued. "Is there something noticeable about me that screams it or something-?! Oh great I look like a total nerd don't I?!" Lucy was once again cut off by Loke's chuckle as he watched her from his seat at the adjacent bar stool. The rosy color of her cheeks began to spread and deepen as she watched him with mouth agape, her eyebrows crossing over her brow bone in frustration. "Hey!" Her hand's balled up in fist and flew down at her sides stiffly. "Are you laughing at me?!" She exclaimed, clearly flustered.

"No, it's not that-" Loke choked out between, breaths, "I'm sorry it's-" He managed to get out, but his laughing hadn't ceased just yet. Lucy just folded her arms over her chest and stuck her chin up at him. She closed her eyes before looking away in mock insult.

"Oh really? Then what may I ask, is so funny?" She asked sounding rather miffed by his reactions towards her. Loke's laughing was just dying down as he brought a finger up towards his eye to wipe away a straying tear from underneath his sunglasses. Lucy chanced another glance at him despite herself; he was closing one eye as he shot her another very contagious smile.

"I'm sorry about that!" He began lightly. "It was just your face!" He added with a hand up towards his mouth in an attempt to keep one last brief chuckle from sliding out. "Didn't mean to be rude. It just caught me off guard, that's all. You looked so worried!" He closed his eyes happily, before opening them and looking at her sincerely. "Trust me, there's nothing wrong with the way you look." He quickly scanned over her whole body. "In fact, you look like you fit right in with this crowd in that dress and I'm not just saying that!" At this rate Lucy's face was never going to go back to its normal color.

"Well okay… Then how could you tell?" She asked rather shyly, still flustered by his words.

"Simple, I've never seen you here before." He added with a wink. "I definitely would have remembered you if I had." Lucy looked away from him her hand grabbing her glass and bringing it up to her lips, but not sipping it just yet.

"Well… what if I told you I'm from out of town?" Lucy asked, before finally taking a brief drink.

"I'd say that's not likely." Loke answered shaking his head. Lucy paused looking at him with a confused expression, before slamming her glass back on the bar.

"And why do you say that?!" She demanded the question. "I could be from anywhere for all you know, how would you?!" At this Loke gave her a rather cheeky smile as he suddenly pointed at Lucy's tiny pink purse, the lengthily strap of it was hanging on the back of her bar stool.

"There's a lanyard hanging out of your purse that says differently. If anything it implies that you go to Mavis University, which suggest that you probably live here in Magnolia."

"Ha! Shows how much you know smart guy!" Lucy snapped with a finger pointing at him. "Because that's not even mine! They're my classmates' keys, so that proves nothing." She replied coyly her head leaning in as she held her drink in hand again. Loke leaned back away from her still smiling.

"You're right it doesn't, but you just told me otherwise."

"Say what?" Lucy questioned him with narrowed eyes, the glass hovering just below her lips.

"Classmate's keys you say?" He repeated. "Meaning you go to school together?" Loke asked, his tone leaning, as did his body towards her. Lucy paused for a moment taking in what he had just said, realizing where she had slipped up. She glanced down at the drink she was holding up by her chin, suddenly feeling very stupid.

"Alright so maybe I'm a little more tipsy than I thought…" She replied, before glancing back up at him with eyes still narrowed. "You win this round sir…" She spoke before sipping her drink, her eyes never leaving him. "But don't get used to it." She said as she moved her glass back to the table. "I may be blond, but I'm a lot more clever than people give me credit for. I won't mess up twice." She replied.

"So I take it you're enjoying this guessing game then?" Loke asked.

"I didn't say that." She answered smiling, her eyes going closed and her head angling up slowly as if disinterested in him. Loke could see that she was clearly lying, in an attempt to toy with him playfully and he sure as hell didn't mind. He watched her for a moment, enjoying the view as her sights were elsewhere. His eyes played over the delicate features of her heart shaped face and the way her golden hair flowed around it in a nice symmetrical frame, before traveling down the length of her neck, to the large swell of her cleavage and down even further to the narrow line of her waist. She really was quite the specimen, he hadn't been exaggerating in his compliments towards her and he knew one way or another he needed to get her to like him now that he had found such a girl.

"Well don't you two look cozy!" Came a loud voice, interrupting Loke's thoughts. Lucy's eyes opened just as she felt an arm slide behind her back and a hand slap her shoulder. It was Cana who was suddenly pulling her into a semi hug with one arm as she held a large mug in the other. She had a wide grin on her face that exposed all of her teeth; her eyes were closed in excitement after having found Lucy.

"Cana!" Lucy exclaimed in shock. "You're here! Where have you been?!" Cana opened her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh ya know, here, there, everywhere." She replied quickly, her tone full of disinterest. "Whatever. Hey, whose this?!" She asked motioning towards Loke with her mug quickly as if changing the subject.

"Oh… that's Loke." Lucy answered, watching Cana unsuspectingly.

"Nice to meet you!" Loke offered a hand out towards Cana as he said this to her. Cana unwrapped her arm from around the blonde's shoulders and gave it over to Loke willingly, who immediately moved his head down to kiss it as he had with Levy and Lucy earlier. Lucy watched as Cana's dark violet eyes scaled over Loke up and down, she could feel a slight pang of worry irrupting from her heart at the brunette's obvious action, almost as if she was feeling jealous… _But that can't be it_… Was her only thought, _I hardly know him_. _How would I be jealous?_

"Wow, hello!" Cana replied in awe as she took her hand back. She turned her head towards Lucy so that Loke couldn't see or hear her. "Well now isn't he something?" She whispered to the blond slyly, before turning back to face Loke with a bright smile. "Nice to meet you Loke! I'm Cana and I can see you already met my friend, Lucy!" Cana spoke as she elbowed Lucy slightly, causing the blond to glare at her as if annoyed. "Were just enjoying a girls night out together!" She added pulling Lucy in for another hug with her one arm as she sent Loke a wink accompanied by her bright smile, before taking another swig from her mug. "So… What are you two up to?" The brunette questioned, her tone coming out almost too innocently. Her violet eyes traveling from Loke's face, back to Lucy's, where they were met with the blonds' angry stare.

"Girls night huh?" Lucy scoffed. "Levy and I have hardly seen you since the night started." Lucy added, her tone dry. There was a brief pause as Lucy and Cana looked at one another, when Lucy's eyes widened in realization. "Oh my god Levy!" Lucy exclaimed as she just remembered their third comrade. "I was having such a good time that I forgot all about her!" She started scrambling for her bag, pulling out her phone.

"Oh right, you did tell her we were going to come back." Loke chimed in as Lucy started dialing Levy's number. Cana watched them both with a puzzled face as the phone began to ring Levy's number.

"Wait, you mean you two don't know?" The brunette asked. Lucy glanced over at Cana, her eyebrows pushing together as she brought the phone up to her ear.

"Know what?" She questioned her friend.

"Levy left." Cana stated bluntly.

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed, Loke's eyes also widened in surprise after hearing this news.

"Wait a minute, are you sure?" He asked Cana. Cana leaned back, shifting her weight so that she could look at both of their questioning faces as Lucy's phone continued ringing Levy's.

"Yea, I'm positive! I saw her leaving with someone about twenty minutes ago actually." Lucy was staring at Cana in disbelief, her mouth hanging open as she still could hear the sound of Levy's phone ringing in her ear.

"Wow I can't believe it! She actually went and did it… I wonder who it was she left with then…" Lucy uttered out in amazement as Cana flashed her a knowing smirk.

"Well… I don't exactly know for myself, but don't be expecting her to answer that phone anytime soon, because from what I _hear,_ she's in good hands."

"Oh… yea?" Lucy questioned.

"Yep!" Cana answered, taking another drink from her mug. "Our girl Levy is in for a fun night!" Just as the words left the brunette's mouth, Levy's voice came over Lucy's phone, in the form of her voice mail message.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the deserted bathroom of the club was a discarded phone, vibrating and ringing on deaf ears against the tiles of the bathroom floor. After a few minutes it finally stopped vibrating and instead rang out a single beeping noise to indicate that it was going to voice mail.<p>

"_Hi! You have reached Levy McGarden's phone! Sorry I can't talk right now, but if you leave me your name and number I promise to return your call as soon as possible! Thanks and have a great day!" _ Came Levy's voice from over the lonely phone on the floor, before it beeped a second time.

"_Um… Levy? It's Lucy, sorry I forgot you! I know you're probably busy right now… At least that's what Cana is telling me…. Anyways just make sure you get back to me at some point cause ya know I worry about you! Be safe, love you!" _Came Lucy's voice next through the phone just as the door of the bathroom swung open, concealing the small object from view.

Two clearly drunk-giggling girls were walking into the bathroom together. They started stepping away from the door, as it swung close behind them, neither of them noticing the now silent phone on the ground as they spoke to one another. They were in happy spirits until they spotted something unusual that gave them both reason to pause in their tracks. They both stood there frozen in place, staring at the far wall of the bathroom in shock as it was littered with tiny drops and splatters of red, it was blood…

* * *

><p>Lucy hung up her phone and glanced up at Cana uneasily.<p>

"I got her voice mail… So… I guess you're right Cana." Lucy stated. Cana nodded her head as she took another drink from her mug.

"Yea told ya! I saw her booking it towards the exit with this guy like they just couldn't wait to get the hell outta here." The brunette replied.

"Yea…" Lucy muttered as her chocolate eyes went downcast, locking onto the phone she still held in her hand. She did believe Cana, but at the same time she still couldn't help, but feel concern for Levy as she thought about the large scary guy who had been staring at them earlier. A hand reached out gently touching Lucy's forearm; Lucy glanced up hesitantly, matching eyes with Loke once again.

"You okay Lucy?" He asked sympathetically. "If you're really that worried we could still try and look for her." He offered. Lucy watched him for a moment, taking in his words and considering what he said just to give her peace of mind, when a memory of what Levy had said earlier flashed through her head.

_ "Yes Lucy… I'm saying I just want to have sex with someone, because I'm incredibly lonely and have given up on trying to find someone to be with. I've got way too much on my plate right now to try and be in a relationship anyways. I'm incredibly stressed out and in the mean time it would just be nice to feel somewhat satisfied. I know the risk and such. I'm not stupid, but don't you worry Lucy, because I'm not going to do it anyways. We both know I don't have it in me to actually do any of it." Levy finished her frustration peaking. _

"_I understand you're just worried about me Lu, but I can take care of myself. I may say crazy things once in a while, but you know I'm not actually going to go through with any of my silly ideas." She said her tone normal now and her large eyes shining at the blond with unshed tears and Lucy could see the hopelessness there in them. "I'm sorry, it's just we're here… and..." Levy said looking around with her hands open and out before they fell back to her sides. "We don't know anyone on this side of town and…" She looked back to Lucy. "Well you know if I ever was going to do it… here and now, this would be the time and place to do it." Levy finished her eyes looking off._

Lucy sat there pondering to herself as she remembered the words Levy had spoken to her earlier that night. _She's right_, the blond thought to herself. _I gotta stop babying her. Levy is more than capable of taking care of herself and this is what she said she wanted… So I need to respect that,_ Lucy's mind spoke. _She'll be okay_… Her mind reassured her as a weak smile graced her lips, her eyes locking with Loke's again.

"No…" She began. "Levy will be okay. She's one of the smartest people I know and if this is what she wants, I'm not about to get in her way." Lucy added causing Loke to smile back at the blond.

"Now, that's the spirit!" Cana chimed in, raising her mug. "Like you said, Levy's a big girl, so I wouldn't worry about it! Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't hear from her until tomorrow!" Cana added cheerfully.

"Yea…" Lucy replied with a soft giggle at Cana's antics as she stared down at her own hands sitting in her lap. Loke's hand came into view as he gently rested it over hers, making her cheeks go pink as she looked back up at him.

"How about we dance? What do you say?" He asked softly, his voice soothing. Lucy stared up at his serene smile; she could feel her worries slowly melting away as she looked at him with her warm face.

"I would really like that." She replied, making Loke's smile widen.

* * *

><p>Gajeel stumbled back from the sudden impact of the knife puncturing through his skin, his arm instinctively going up and pushing Thibault away. Levy was watching in horror, her hands cupped over her mouth as tears spilled from her eyes, immediately thinking the worst. Thibault's form went falling backwards from Gajeel's forceful push, his rear landing on the concrete. Gajeel's eyes shifted from Thibault, to his own body in shock as he soon discovered the knife Thibault had been concealing still stuck in his left thigh. Blood was beginning to soak the fabric of his pants around the area where the blade poked out.<p>

Levy's hands fell from her face in shock as she realized Thibault's thrust forward had faltered somehow causing him to miss stabbing Gajeel in the abdomen, where he had appeared to be aiming. This had only happened, because Gajeel had been able to move back a step after hearing Levy's warning. Levy was relieved to discover this, as she knew stomach wounds were often times far more deadly, but it didn't mean that Gajeel's life wasn't still at risk.

"Gajeel!" Levy called out to him frantically from her place behind the car. Her small body was now hanging over the hood as she could no longer hide her desperation, but Gajeel didn't even acknowledge her, instead his sights just settled on Thibault.

"What's this?!" He roared, his hands motioning towards the knife handle that was protruding from his leg, before whipping to his sides in balled up fists. Thibault just stared up at him from his spot on the ground with ovule shaped eyes and a slack jaw as it was just dawning on him how truly screwed he was.

Gajeel stood with his chest inflated, thus adding to his width as he inhaled a fuming breath. His robust arms were clenched on either side of his torso so tightly that each muscle was clearly outlined by the back lighting of the club. His face was half masked in shadow; his red eyes slicing through the darkness like that of a disturbed demon. His fangs were jutting out from underneath his tense upper lip as he scowled. His long hair was bristling behind him in animosity, his towering height pervading over the fearful man below him as if he were his prey.

Thibault could feel his body beginning to go rigid under Gajeel's fierce gaze. Everything in his being was screaming for him to flee from the enraged beast and so his hands began to scramble, but he soon discovered that they were shaking too severely to be effective. Instead all he could do was watch helplessly from his place on the ground as Gajeel's tight fisted hands began to shove into the pockets of his pants.

"Thibault!" Came Gajeel's voice commandingly, causing Thibault's body to become so still it was almost as if he had ceased all breathing. "You should have killed me right there, when ya had the chance…" He added darkly before closing his eyes. He almost sounded regrettable, as his fists came rising out of his pants pockets slowly, each one now dawning a pair of black brass knuckles. His eyes whipped open locking to Thibault's face as he plainly revealed his newly equipped fists.

Levy stood there frozen in place as she realized what Gajeel was wielding. Her mind flashed back to the night she had met him, an image of Gajeel wearing the brass knuckles that night too, closely followed by the picture of Bora' pummeled face. Her heart skipped a beat and her body shuddered at the idea of what Gajeel had done to him that night and at the idea of what he was about to do to Thibault. Her mind was screaming for her to make him stop… _Even after what he tried to do to you? _Came an opposing voice in her brain. _Yea Levy… Don't forget that, that man tried to rape you. Not only that, but remember how he bashed your head? _Levy could feel herself beginning to rationalize it all in her thoughts._ Yea… and that's just what he did to you… Who knows what else he has done to other women… I mean he did imply that he had, had other victims as well remember? _ Levy's eyes went wide as she remembered Thibault's words from earlier that night, when he had cornered her in the bathroom.

"_Yer a lot smarter than most of the girls I go after…" "_It's gonna make me enjoy this even more I think…"

Levy stood there, her body straightening up, her arms going down at her sides stiffly as her hands curled into balls. Her eyes were going downcast as she remembered the way Thibault had grabbed her and then jerked her arm back nearly breaking it, then the way he had pushed her into the bathroom stall before finally slamming her head against the toilet. She closed her eyes tightly at the memories as she bit her bottom lip painfully all at the way she had been so easily man handled and yet so helpless to stop it at the same time. _Doesn't he deserve this? Doesn't he deserve to feel the repercussions for the pain he has caused? _ The voice was once again questioning her. _Doesn't he deserve to bleed after the way he made you bleed…? _

_NO! _Levy's eyes broke open at this last thought, the violence of it making her finally snap to her senses. _NO, I don't wish to cause others pain! If anything I want to help them! That's the whole reason why I want to become a doctor! _Her mind was now arguing back. _These are my beliefs and I won't be swayed just, because he hurt me!_ She thought, her brow lowering in determination as her eyes glanced back up to Gajeel, who had slowly started approaching Thibault whilst Levy had been in the midst of her internal debate. _Besides Gajeel is still hurt and this could get him into a lot of trouble! And I don't want that! _Levy's thoughts reminded her._ Wait… I don't? _ Levy's brain suddenly questioned, but she didn't waste time dwelling on it as she didn't have any, instead she just hollered.

"Gajeel! Wait!" She cried out, but Gajeel made no movement to show that he had heard her as he took a step closer to the now weeping Thibault.

"Walk away Levy!" He suddenly shouted back without looking at her. "You shouldn't see this!" He added as he lowered his body towards the man. Thibault seemed frozen in fear as Gajeel neared him; he was beginning to beg for mercy, his brow glistening with sweat. "What? Is yer wit all gone now?" Gajeel taunted the terrified man before him. "Really? And after all that shit you talked earlier?!" He growled his anger getting away from him some through his tone.

Levy was watching with eyes narrowed as she bit down tensely, her eyes looking at the knife still jammed in Gajeel's thigh. _He must be running on pure adrenaline, because he doesn't seem to be at all affected by the pain… _Levy's eye's traveled back up to Gajeel's hate filled face_. First he takes that punch and now this… What kind of person is he? _Her mind was reeling with wonder and fear as she continued to watch the scene unfold before her.

"Gajeel! Please!" She tried again. Gajeel's hand came flying out to Thibault's chest, his fingers clenching the fabric of the scared man's shirt.

"NO! NO PLEASE GOD!" Thibualt was begging him now as Gajeel began to lift him up from the ground by the collar of his shirt.

"Gajeel! Please- I-I don't want you to!" Levy's voice was also still begging him. Gajeel could hear her cries, each word from her mouth made his heart constrict so tightly in his chest that it pained him. _I know…_ He was thinking, as time seemed to slow down for him. _I know you don't want me to god dammit! But why?! Why do you have to be this way? _He closed his eyes briefly as he jerked Thibault further up into the air. _Why does she have to be so perfect…?_ His eyelids lifted and he was now looking directly up into Thibault's black terrified eyes with his own narrowed ones. _Why can't she be angry, like I am for what this piece of shit put her through?!_ His mind was shouting the questions in his head so loudly that it made it hard for him to make sense of anything else. _Why does she have to make me question what I do?! Even the one time I feel like I'm doing something for the right reason and she still makes me feel like I'm wrong?! Why does she have to make me feel this way?! This guilt?! _

Gajeel paused for a second; his body was standing straight up, one arm was holding Thibault just high enough into the air that his feet were off the ground. His eyes were staring right up into Thibault's face with his other arm reeled back like he was about to punch the man. He could feel Levy's large eyes on him from where she stood behind the car. The air was so quiet that Gajeel could swear he heard her heart beating, but it was probably just his own. Nobody had ever held the power she seemed to hold over him. Making him physically react to something he did on a regular basis, normally _without_ any thought or feeling behind it. Her earned silence speaking all of the desperation in the world and he could feel himself regretting what he was about to do, but he knew he couldn't stop. He just couldn't stop himself from taking revenge for her, even if she wanted nothing to do with it. Not after the way he had found her, bleeding and exposed. Gajeel closed his eyes tightly as the upsetting image fueled his fist forward; _I'm sorry Levy! _Was the last coherent thought he was able to make before allowing himself to lose all control.

Levy gasped, her heart shattering as she watched Gajeel's armored fist make contact with Thibault's jaw. She slammed her eyelids shut, but it didn't stop her from hearing the god awful cracking sound. She quickly fell to her knees and slapped her hands over her ears as Gajeel's punch unhinged part of Thibault's jawbone. She tried to look again, but snapped her head away once she saw that Gajeel was winding up for another punch, this time there was no more hesitation.

Gajeel's fist slammed into the side of Thibault's jaw once again, this time creating a crunching sound. Thibault's screams were silenced and replaced with gurgles from the second blow; blood started leaking from the side of his chin as tiny pieces of shattered bone began to poke fourth from his skin. Gajeel then lowered the man just enough that his feet made contact with the ground, quickly punching him a third time on the bridge of his eyes socket. Thibault's body flew down from the hit, the back of his head hitting the pavement so hard that he bounced against it leaving blood in his wake. Levy was trying her hardest to tune all of the violence out when she heard Gajeel speak.

"What?!" He was shouting and Levy couldn't hide the temptation to glance up and see Thibault's back now flushed against the ground in a heap. One of his arms then came reaching up towards Gajeel's leg and it looked as if he were begging Gajeel to stop. She couldn't help, but cringe once she got a glimpse at his already broken face and she immediately closed her eyes again as she listened to more of Gajeel's yelling.

"What's a matter!? Hit yer head? Did you want me to stop?! Did any of the women you hurt beg for you to stop?! HUH?! Did LEVY, you sick bastard?!" Gajeel shouted furiously his boot suddenly going up and flying down on Thibault's chest with a loud thud. Then he stopped and stepped back and instead began to revert to pacing around Thibault's fallen form anxiously. "And you have the nerve to say I'm like you?!" He yelled as his foot came stomping down on Thibault's hand. Thibault screamed as Gajeel jumped off of him and then continued to circle. "For one thing I don't hide my weapons you fuckin coward!" This time he kicked Thibault so hard in the ribcage that his limp body flipped over to it's side as he let out a painful moan. Gajeel took a breath, his arms reaching out and grabbing Thibault by the front of the shirt again, jerking his upper body up to face him as he kneeled down. "Ya know what though, maybe yer right Thibault." He stated, staring into what was left of Thibault's face. "Because like you I'm the bad guy…" He spoke as he began to slowly raise Thibault's body up with his own, easily. Now the two were standing again, Thibault was only on his feet, because Gajeel was holding him up. "But unlike you I don't go after the good ones!" Gajeel roared as his knuckle jammed hard into Thibault's stomach. Thibault spat up blood and fell over limply, but Gajeel didn't seem to be done as he just followed him to the ground with another fist in the air. "After tonight… never again." He seethed coldly as his fist came driving down again into Thibault's flesh with another crack.

As much as Levy tried she couldn't seem to block out the noise of Gajeel's onslaught on the man that had attacked her. She was kneeling down still trying not to look in that direction, with her hands fastened over her ears, but nothing she could do was saving her from his torment. What was worst was Gajeel seem to only move faster and harder with each blow he dished out as if he was becoming more immune to the pain he unleashed as time waged on. The madness of it all was slowly wearing on Levy as she began to fear that Gajeel had lost all control and was going to kill the man right in front of her. She forced her fear to take a backseat as she realized she couldn't let him do that. She started pushing her body up off the ground to her feet, her eyes wincing as she looked in the direction of Gajeel, where he was still wailing on Thibault, who now was unrecognizable as a bloody pulp on the cement.

"Gajeel!" She screamed hoping to break through, but he didn't stop as his boot came flying down on the broken man once again. Then suddenly another distinct sound arose in the night, making Levy's eyes go wide. _Sirens_…. Levy thought as she could hear the noise in the distance. "GAJEEL!" She cried out again, her voice cracking in desperation. "GAJEEL SIRENS!"

Finally it was this word that made Gajeel's body freeze. His back was facing her as he stood up straight, his head going up. Levy smiled weakly despite herself, it was mostly just out of pure relief that he had finally stopped the violence. She recognized that he was probably listening for the same sound she had heard. There was a brief pause between the two of them as a cool breeze flew by, the sound of the sirens was becoming clearer when Gajeel finally turned his head slowly. His eyes were on her, his brow hard, but the rest of his face looked relaxed, Levy watched him as if hypnotized by the gaze he held on her.

"Levy..?" He uttered out softly.

"Gajeel?" Levy's mouth fell open at the way he breathed her name, he sounded so… weak. His head suddenly turned back forward and Levy watched in horror as he started to fall to his knees as if he just couldn't stand anymore.

"Gajeel!" Levy cried out, wasting no time to run towards him. Gajeel let his body fall back on his rear as he pushed himself away from Thibault's out cold body. Levy was on him in seconds, she fell down before him, one hand resting on his shoulder, the other reaching towards his leg, but not touching it. His eyes narrowed in pain as he winced and glanced up in the direction of Thibault's limp shape.

"No… Levy… Don't look at him." He muttered referring to Thibault, his voice heavy with pain. "I don't want ya ta see… what I did to him..." He added with a labored breath.

"Don't worry about that now." Levy replied, her voice shaky with worry over his sudden pain. The adrenaline that had been motivating him through the beating he had unleashed had clearly run out. She glanced down at the knife handle sticking out of his thigh. "You over did it… It's making you lose blood faster. We need to get you to a hospital." She said as she glanced back up at his face, her large eyes full of concern. Gajeel just shook his head at this as he leaned back.

"No." He stated bluntly. "Can't do hospitals." Levy looked at him as if he was crazy.

"You have to! You could be in serious trouble, if that knife hit your femoral artery you are going to bleed out! We might not even have that much time!"

"No… if that had happen.." Gajeel breathed out, "I'd be dead already… But hey listen shrimp… You need ta get outta here so ya don't get tangled up in this mess." Gajeel warned.

"Now isn't that cute!" Levy stated, but her voice was full of urgency. "I am already tangled up in this mess, so there's no way I'm leaving you now! Not only that, but I told you I don't have a car anyways, remember?! So just quit trying to be chivalrous and tell me what we should do!"

"Alright… fine…" Gajeel sighed; he was in too much pain to argue with her. "All I need from you then shrimp, is to pull that knife out."

"What?!" Levy cried out. "I can't do that!"

"Sure ya can… And ya better do it quick, cause those sirens are gettin' louder…" Gajeel grunted back still in pain.

"Gajeel I…"

"There's no time for doubt Levy. I can't do it myself with the angle it's at. All just be causin' more damage… Aren't you in doctor school er somethin' anyways?! Just do it!" Gajeel demanded. Levy watched him uneasily as he stared into her with his loaded look before wrapping her tiny hands around the handle of the knife.

"Okay… fine! But for the record I'm not in 'doctor school', just normal school! And I'm not even a med student yet…" She replied nervously. Gajeel just rolled his eyes before speaking again,

"Well then jus think of it as practice for when ya are…" He got out, before wincing again.

"Alright… on three then." She spoke sounding insecure, her hands gripping the handle of the knife tighter. She watched him steadily as he nodded at her before she began her count "One…" She began uneasily, watching Gajeel who was staring at her intensely as if he was trying to give her assurance by not budging. "Two…" Gajeel's body tensed up as he braced for the oncoming pain, Levy's eye's jumped back to the knife. "Three!" She cried out, now closing her eyes as she began to pull on the knife. It was hard at first as she felt the suctioning air from the punctured object leak in and keep it still. Then suddenly it slid out fast, she heard Gajeel let out an odd seething breath, but then that was it. Levy opened her eye and held up the knife with both hands in amazement at her feat. It was a spear shaped switchblade knife with a long black handle she was holding. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the tip of the blade that was covered in Gajeel's blood. "I did it!" She spoke out in awe of herself.

"Yea ya did good kid, but we ain't done yet... Now we need ta get the hell outta here." Levy looked from the knife to the spot in Gajeel's leg she had pulled it out from. She could see the slit like hole in his flesh and the blood that surrounded it soaking the fabric of his pants. She lowered her hand with the knife and then looked to him with an almost saddened look.

"Wait… Aren't you in pain?" She questioned.

"I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't, but we gotta get movin' before the cops show up here. Here, gimme that." Gajeel answered as his hand reached out for the knife in Levy's. She handed it to him and he wiped the blade on his already bloody pants before switching it closed and sticking it in his pocket.

"You're gonna keep that?" Levy asked.

"I've got to now, since our hands and my blood have been all over it. It would be messier to leave it here with..." Gajeel replied motioning towards the body behind them. Levy's eyes shifted over in the direction of Thibault's beaten form hesitantly, before going back to Gajeel.

"Yea… about that… What are we going to do about…"

"Him? Oh we're leavin him here." Gajeel stated as he started to try and move to get up.

"What? But wait, how can we do that?" Levy started as she watched Gajeel from her spot on the ground as he tried to push himself up to a standing position.

"Well do you wanna to carry him?" Gajeel responded with another groan as his body finally stood up all the way stiffly, his weight shifted more over to one side.

"Well no… but is he even alive?" She questioned plainly as she also began to move.

"He is." Gajeel stated as Levy started to stand up beside him. Her arm instinctively wrapped around his waistline to help support his weight on the side of his now bad leg. "I made sure not to kill im', but who knows what quality of life he'll have after tonight." Levy felt a chill run up her spine as she tried to avert her eyes from Thibault's body. "Now C'mon… if you could just help me over to my bike over there, then we can-"

"What?! Bike?! That's not gonna work!" Levy cried out as if exasperated by Gajeel's stupidity as the two of them began to walk carefully together.

"Why not?" Gajeel questioned, Levy glanced down at the stab wound in Gajeel's leg for a brief second, before looking back up at his face.

"How do you expect to drive it like this?" She questioned as if the answer was obvious. Gajeel just shrugged his shoulders.

"We'll be fine… I'll just take ya home and then-" Gajeel began breathlessly.

"Hell no!" Levy snapped. "You're in too much pain and I'm not about to get myself killed on the back of one of those… things…"

"Things?" Gajeel repeated. Levy could hear the smile in his voice behind the pain, as he sounded amused. "Guess you ain't ever been on one before, huh? How do you know you wouldn't love it? It's fun." He added still amused, but with a wince. Levy couldn't help, but roll her eyes.

"Fun huh? You love to throw that word around in my face don't you?" Levy questioned, her voice dry.

"Well there ain't nothin' wrong with havin' some once in a while ya know?" Gajeel replied, followed by another painful groan.

"I have my fun, it's just apparently not up to par with society's breed of fun is all. Which by the way, if any of this-" Levy's free hand vaguely motioned towards her head gash and Gajeel's stab wound as they walked. "Is supposed to be what the majority of the population considers as 'fun' than consider me a self proclaimed outcast from this day forward, because I think I've had my fill for one night… Forever actually…" Levy mumbled the last part under her breath. Gajeel was able to hear her, but he stayed quiet as he realized how right she was. This whole night had ended up playing out like a chapter right out of the devil's book of hell and the worst part was it wasn't even over yet. "Besides the point though… I still stand by what I said… You're too hurt to drive anything, let alone a bike! And the first thing I said to you too… We _need_ to get you to a hospital!" Levy finished her voice commanding, but then without warning Gajeel suddenly stopped walking causing her body to be pulled back a few steps with his. "Hey!" She stopped and turned around. "What gives Gajeel! We need to keep moving!"

"Levy, I want you to go and leave me here." He stated firmly, Levy glanced over to him, his face looked very serious.

"But I can't Gajeel, I told you I don't-"

"Then find some other way outta here, because like I told _you_ before I can't do hospitals and more importantly you need to be away from here." His voice was demanding now as if he was ordering her. Levy looked at him, her eyes full of helplessness as he stood there planted, bowed over his bad leg. The sirens had gotten extremely loud, as the two of them had walked to the outskirts of the club's parking lot. Levy glanced up to the flashing lights of a police car. Luckily they were far enough away that they wouldn't be spotted just yet as the night's darkness helped to mask them.

"Gajeel!" Levy cried out as she could feel herself beginning to panic. Gajeel folded his arms and stood there before her like an unmoving brick wall.

"Go Levy…" He commanded. She glanced over her shoulder again as the police car neared the club's entryway, that was when she just couldn't wait anymore. She was done playing games with him, her hands reached out grabbing his arm as if he were her only security blanket.

"No, I'm not leaving without you!" She cried out. "I'll take you to my place if I have to, but we need to go now! Don't make me do this! Don't make me leave you here! Let me help!" Gajeel's eyes went wide as he looked down at the girl who was now basically hugging his arm. _What? Why does she… care all of the sudden?_

"Levy- I." She looked up at him with pleading eyes, but a firm brow.

"You saved me. Please let me save you…" She begged. Gajeel stared at her with an amazed expression. He was at a loss for words and instead just found himself suddenly nodding at her in shock. She had made it incredibly hard for him to say no, with the way her small body was pressed up against his arm, clinging to him. It was at this motion she began to move to his side to help support and walk with him once again. "Okay… Good… Thank you..." She answered softly, her eyes glanced up and her head shifted in a direction, down the road. "There's a subway entrance not far from here… We can get on there and get to my place that way." She explained. Gajeel looked at her for a long moment, his head swelling with all sorts of dirty thoughts. _No, stop! Get that shit outta yer head now, she's just tryin' to help_… He closed his eyes tightly; whisking them away as best as he could, which he found to be pretty hard every time he was in her presence, especially now when she was touching him.

"Sounds good…" He finally groaned out an answer.

"Okay… this way." Levy spoke her tone almost businesslike as her body turned them in the direction they were looking. Then slowly the two of them began to make their way down the street just as the cops had arrived at the club, managing to escape just in time. Gajeel trying his best to swallow not only the pain from his leg, but also the pain of desperation that only she seem to stir within him.

* * *

><p>"Whoa…! Hold on Lucy." Came Loke's voice as he laughed, his hands clinging to the blond to keep her steady. "You're getting away from me now." He added still laughing as Lucy's one arm was hanging around his neck, her head and shoulders leaning back away from him as she let her weight tip backwards carelessly. There was blissful smile on her now red face as she giggled at her dance partner. The two of them were on the dance floor surrounded by other dancers; one of them included Cana who had decided not to stray too far away this time.<p>

"No Loke, I'm not going anywhere!" Came the happy blonds' voice as her weight continued to lean back away from Loke's body as she let him hold her up.

"Oh wait! Hold on!" Loke cried out as his one arm reached up around her back for a better grip, pulling her lower body against him as a means to keep her from falling backwards as she almost seemed like she was going to. Her head and back came propelling back up so that her face came right in front of his.

"Hi." Lucy uttered out, as her face was only mere inches away from his.

"Hi." Loke repeated, a smile on his face.

"Man she is sloshed!" Came Cana's voice from over Loke's shoulder as she had been watching Loke's struggle with a now very drunk Lucy. Lucy's head shifted over so that she could see Cana over her dance partner's shoulder.

"Oh hey Cana!" Lucy exclaimed as if she had just realized Cana was there. Cana smiled brightly at the blond, doing her best not to laugh at her obvious drunken state.

"Hey there! Having fun blondie?" Cana asked.

"You kiddin?" Lucy asked as her head began to nod. "Yeaaa… I'm having a grrrreaaaat time!" She replied her arms wrapping around Loke's neck tightly as if she were hugging him, as she stood on her tiptoes. Loke just stood there and let her lean all over him as she spoke to Cana just behind him.

"Yea well, three drinks in and one shot later, I guess you oughta be, ya lightweight." Cana stated with a laugh. Lucy began to join Cana in her laughter, but her face looked a bit confused as if she didn't know why they were laughing. Loke's arm moved, swaying Lucy back some so that she was no longer hanging over him and so that he could look at her now.

"Yea… I think we should probably cut you off for the night Lucy." Loke stated.

"Okay…" Lucy replied sweetly her body pressing up against his as her head came resting on his shoulder. "Whatever you say Loke…" She said dreamily as her eyes closed and her head stayed on him. Loke brought a hand up to the back of her blond head, running a hand through her hair gently admiring the way she felt against him.

"Well nobody's cuttin' me off." Cana stated. "I think I'm gonna head to the bar for another round, ya want anything Loke?" The brunette asked.

"Nah, that's alright. Someone's going to have to take you ladies home." He answered as he continued to pet Lucy's head as they swayed together. "You go ahead." He added.

"Maybe that one, but I'm not going anywhere just yet." Cana replied. "Suit yourself though." And with that Cana walked off leaving Loke and Lucy alone as they moved together on the dance floor. The beat of the music not really fitting the way they were dancing too well as Lucy's current state had her feeling like all she wanted to do was lean all her weight on the man in front of her.

"So what do you think, you ready to call it a night?" Loke whispered the question in the blonde's ear. "I only ask, because you seem really tired now."

"Whatevvvverrrr you say Loke…" Lucy replied her voice still dreamy. Loke managed to stifle a laugh at the way Lucy was speaking to him before asking her another question.

"Well okay… Not sure how you ladies got here, but I walked, because I live near by. I can call you a cab or-"

"The car!" Lucy cried out as her head came flying off Loke's shoulder so that she could look up at him.

"What car?" Loke asked. "Do you have one?"

"Cana!" Lucy exclaimed. "But…. Oh…"

"What's a matter?" Loke asked.

"She gave me the keys. I was spose ta drive it!" Lucy slurred. "I don't think-"

"No definitely not." Loke finished the thought for her. "But don't worry, I'll drive it." Loke offered.

"You will!" Lucy cried out.

"Yea sure, why not?" Loke replied.

"Yay!" Lucy cheered, her arms wrapping around Loke and pulling him into a hug that was so tight, that Loke's face actually reddened some from the way Lucy's chest pressed against him.

"Lucy…" Loke breathed out her name. She was really starting to make him crazy the drunker she became, as all her shyness seem to go out the window with the way she clung to him. His gentlemanly resolve was weakening with each movement she made.

"I just gotta talk ta Cana…" Came Lucy's muffled voice as her face was still buried into his shoulder. Loke held her for a moment, his chin lowering over her head as his arms wrapped more securely around her. His eyes closed for a moment as he breathed her in, his body relaxing against hers. _Lucy… you are making this very hard for me, because I think I really like you… So I didn't want to… _Loke's thoughts were speaking when suddenly all of the music in the club came to a screeching stop. Loke opened his eyes, _What the…_

Bright overhead lights came flashing on, making all the dim lighting and neon colors of the club disappear. Everyone was moaning, their eyes stinging from the sudden brightness as they all glanced around confused with squinted eyes. Loke pushed Lucy off of him some as he looked around startled by what was happening.

"What the hell is going?!" He questioned his hands gripping Lucy's shoulders as his head swiveled around.

"Loke?" Lucy uttered her eyes squinting under the bright lights as she rubbed her fist into one of them. Loke's mouth fell open when he spotted two men in uniform making a path through the confused crowd with large flashlights in hand.

"Everyone calm down!" One of them was shouting as he came in the direction of Lucy and Loke. He was a man of average height with a bit more muscle mass than Loke himself, but nothing too massive, as he still looked pretty young. He had short spiky hair that hung over his forehead freely; the hue of it was a very dark looking navy, which almost appeared black. He had a very good-looking face with large dark looking eyes. His facial features were sharp enough to make him appear like a very serious mannered individual, and yet just soft enough to still give him a very cool and collected appearance. "We just got some investigating to do, that's all." He spoke again.

"The cops?" Loke muttered, his eyebrows lowering. "Why are they here?" He asked quietly to nobody. Lucy was looking up at Loke's very serious expression not fully grasping the situation.

"Loke?" She tried again; he turned towards her, his expression still hard.

"We should get out of here Lucy." He stated seriously. "Go find Cana okay. I want to be the one here, incase that officer decides to ask people questions, not you. Tell her we should leave, can you do that?" Loke asked, his voice urgent.

"Yea! Of course Loke!" Lucy cheered making Loke smile at her despite his concern. "Wait here, I'll be right back!" Lucy stated before finally letting him go and turning away. Loke watched her disappear through the crowd, the smile on his face fading before turning back to look at the officer making his way through the crowded club. _What the hell is going on?_ He wondered.

* * *

><p>"Cana!" Lucy was hollering her friend's name as she stumbled her way through the crowd lazily, automatically heading towards the bar. "Cana!?" Lucy tried again, although the music was gone, there was still the noise of conversation as people were all talking to each other, confused by the sudden interruption of their good time.<p>

"You lookin' for me blondie?" Came a female voice from behind Lucy. Lucy turned and glanced up at the brunette a large smile coming over her red face.

"CANA! There you are!" She cheered.

"Yep, here I am. Now what's up?" The brunette asked, she had another glass in her hand.

"Cana the cops are here!" Lucy stated.

"No kiddin?" Cana replied in mock concern. "I hadn't noticed." She jested.

"Yea! We gotta go!" Lucy exclaimed grabbing Cana's free hand with both of hers. "Loke's gonna take us home! So c'mon!" The blond added trying to pull Cana with her as she turned, but the brunette's feet stayed planted.

"Hold on." Cana stated. Lucy turned to her friend, her face confused. "I'm not leaving now, not when things are just getting interesting. You go."

"But Cana, you're car-" Lucy started, but was quickly cut off by Cana's voice.

"Take it, so long as you're not the one driving it, I don't care." Cana stated simply, with a shrug.

"You can't be serious?!" Lucy questioned in disbelief. Cana stared at her for a moment, a large sly smile slowly coming over her face as her free hand went to her hip.

"I'm completely serious Lucy! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well I- I don't-"

"Aw what's a matter blondie, you afraid to have a handsome stranger drive you home?" Cana asked with a laugh at Lucy's reactions. "Come on! Live a little why don't ya!"

"It's not like that!" Lucy cried out, "He _was _just gonna take me home."

"Okay fine, you keep telling yourself that with the way you were hanging all over him." Cana replied bluntly, making Lucy's face flush. Cana leaned in, her face nearing Lucy's as she was still wearing her large smirk. "Just remember… don't do anything I wouldn't do." Cana added her hands going over the blonde's shoulders, pushing Lucy's body away, back towards the direction of the dance floor. "Now take my car and have a good time for once in your life. You deserve it!" She cheered with one last shove. Lucy's body tripped forward, but she caught herself as she looked back at her friend.

"What about you?" Lucy asked, but Cana just shooed the blond with her hand.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be finneeee… just finnneee!" She replied her violet eyes looking elsewhere with a grin. Lucy watched her for a moment, before nodding in acceptance.

"Okay!" The blond answered before turning away and heading back to where Loke was. Cana watched Lucy walk away before breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Now that, that's outta the way." She mumbled to herself, turning her body away. "Where did that officer go….?" She muttered, her head glancing around the crowd, drink still in hand.

* * *

><p>Levy and Gajeel were just stepping into the car of the deserted subway station. Her arm was still wrapped around his back in support as Gajeel let some of the weight from the side with his injured leg lean on her, his arm also around her shoulder to keep himself up. The two of them had been silent throughout their whole walk to the train car as they concentrated heavily on their walking. The air had been unsettlingly quiet, because of how late in the night it was. They hadn't seen a single soul since arriving at the subway until they walked into the car, there on the far end was a drunken homeless man all settled in, in one corner. Levy paused upon seeing the other person, becoming nervous at the idea of someone noticing the state the two of them were in as the homeless man's bloodshot eyes glanced over in their direction. Gajeel was clearly limping with blood staining his pants and then there was Levy herself dawning an ugly gash across one side of her forehead.<p>

"C'mon shrimp…" Gajeel whispered into her ear just as the homeless man looked back down and away from them in disinterest. "Don't worry bout 'im. He couldn't care less bout us…" Gajeel urged quietly making Levy swallow past the nervous lump in her throat. She nodded her head slightly, before slowly continuing her walk through the car down to the opposite end of where the homeless man was.

Finally she reached one of the benches that faced the aisle and together the two of them cautiously sat Gajeel down on it. Levy let his arm slide off of her shoulders and stood up before him as he sat down. His hands went over to the wound on his thigh, covering it protectively as his upper body leaned back, his head going up and resting against the window behind him. He closed his eyes for a minute as if wanting to sleep, letting a low groan followed by an easing breath escape his lips. Levy watched him, her eyebrows pushed together in worry. Everything was still so quiet and calm now. It was quite the comparison to how the rest of their night had been.

"Are you okay?" She questioned with a nervous voice. She knew he wasn't, he was clearly in pain, but she had no way to help him at the moment. Gajeel opened his eyes and looked at her, a weak smile forming on his face, his head still leaning back.

"Yea, don't worry yer self over me shrimp." He answered. "I'll be fine…" He uttered just as there was a chiming sound and the doors to the subway car went closed. His eyes shifted over to them. "Looks like we're on our way…" He looked back at her, "So maybe you oughta take it easy now too, after all you did hit yer head." Levy hesitantly brought a hand up to the spot where she could feel pain coming from, her fingers just settling over the cut.

"I'm okay…" She mumbled, her eyes going downcast. "It's just a bump…" She replied quietly, glancing back up at Gajeel. Their eyes locked for a moment and silence washed over the two of them when the car started to rock some. Levy's feet stayed planted, keeping her balance as the subway train began to hum and then jerk forward indicating that they were finally setting off. The two of them were both staring at one another, until the car began its forward motion, causing Levy to close her eyes and breath out in relief.

It had been a while since she had been able to do that, seeing as the night had gone from one crazy thing to the next without even allowing her a minute to process everything that had happened. She slowly turned away from Gajeel, stepping up to the window on the other side of the car across from him, her hand resting on the back of the benches as her eyes opened to look out it.

_What am I doing…? _She began to question, slightly glancing at Gajeel from over her shoulder. _Taking him back with me? To my place…_ Her sights snapped back to the dark windows, her eyes landing on her own reflection that she could just make out within the black of the glass. _This is crazy…_ Her thoughts continued. _This whole night is freaking crazy… _She looked down at her open hands that were quivering violently. Her nerves were basically shot after everything she had been through. _And I just left my friends there, without telling them anything…_ She thought her head going back up, _I don't even have a way to reach them now… _Her mind spoke as she thought of her phone abandoned in the bathroom back at the club.

Gajeel was watching Levy from his spot on the bench as she stared out the window quietly. His eye was paying special attention to a large white marking with an orange lining on the back of her left scapula. It was something he hadn't been able to see before as her jacket had covered up the exposed back of her dress.

His eyes narrowed on it confusion, _What is that…? _His mind was questioning as his eyes followed the odd flowing shape of it._ Some kind of… tattoo? Well that's a surprise… wasn't expectin' the shrimp to have any ink. _He thought as his eyes went back up to her wild blue hair looking over the side of her face that he could see. _Yer full of 'em shrimp, aren't you_? He thought as he glanced down at the hands covering his wound. _Cause I sure as hell never expected this_… He thought watching her again, the night replaying over in his head.

He had never expected to come across Levy that night, let alone get her tied up in the huge mess that was his life. Although in the beginning he had made it clear that he was interested in her, that wasn't anything different than what he normally did where she was concerned. And as always she gracefully shot him down per their usual relationship, by her just chalking it all up to him wanting to tease her. But tonight had been different; he had actually made a genuine advance on her, because he was just so tired of the games. They could only be fun for so long, because in the end they didn't make the fact that he still wanted her go away.

Something between them needed to give and being there at the club with her dressed like that, had been the push Gajeel needed, that and the fact that she had tried to slap him... But then she had resisted him, which was something he hadn't given any thought to, until it actually happened. Most women he put the moves on were normally only too happy to give themselves over willingly, but he was also aware that most of _those _women weren't as level headed as Levy and didn't know as much about him. They were just strangers after sex and that was all he wanted from them as well. Levy though, she knew him and she was smart, too smart to want to get involved with him.

Gajeel had known that when he had made his move on her, but he had kind of hoped she could see past it and that they could still have one night together. He had gotten it in his head that if he could just sleep with her once, then maybe she wouldn't bother him as much as she did, because he would no longer be stuck on the fact that he couldn't have her. That way maybe she could just flow out of his mind and no longer torment him with guilt. A one-night stand would also work out in her favor as he would finally leave her be once it was over. She'd be the center of his world for that one night and then she could walk out of his life forever and never look back, leaving him to carry out his work once again in peace. Her curse subsequently lifted once he had finally gotten his taste.

This had been his whole mindset behind his actions towards her up until the point she had gotten herself into trouble with Thibault. After she had rejected him, he had taunted her with his presence as just a way to get to her, in hopes that she would cave to her inner desires, as he still believed she felt them. But then Thibault happened… That bastard had targeted her as a means to get to Gajeel and this is where they had ended up. Levy had almost been raped…

Gajeel was staring at Levy's back, his eyes automatically gliding along the arch of her spine, down to her tiny waist before landing on her back end. He couldn't help it; he could feel his fingers itching to touch her as he stared at the fullness of her butt.

That moment when he had found her, he had never felt so conflicted with emotions in his whole entire life. The rage he had felt was so strong, it had taken every ounce of will power he had to not kill Thibault right then and there. The only thing that had made him spare the man, was the more crucial desire to make sure Levy was okay. The amount of relief he had felt upon saving her from that fate was almost painful to him. He could feel his heart pound furiously at just the memory of it. He had never wanted to touch someone so much as he had wanted to touch her right then. He had just wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let her go so then that way he knew she would always be safe and it could never happen again.

Gajeel could feel the intensity of that feeling from his memory driving him to slowly move his body forward. His feet slowly pushing his body up despite the excruciating pain he felt in his thigh. Levy didn't notice Gajeel get up from his bench, as she was still lost in thought over all that had happened. He was quietly walking up behind her, the wound in his leg was pulsing with pain with each baby step he inched towards her, but he was ignoring it. He was good at ignoring those types of pains, but the ladder… He just couldn't do it anymore; his self-restraint was going out the window as she stood there teasing him with that curvy frame of hers.

Gajeel halted, his body standing just behind her when he noticed Levy stiffen up, as she must have finally realized he was there, but he wasn't about to let that stop him from what he was about to do. He had made it his job to sneak up behind her, it was how he always seemed to get her, she should have been used to it by now, but she just wasn't.

His large hand came reaching out gently brushing the side of her waist, his fingers reaching around to her lower stomach as he settled his hand there. He could feel her freezing up at his touch, her breath hitching as Gajeel's long fingers stopped just before her belly button. Gajeel couldn't help, but smirk at the tiny sound as he carefully applied some pressure to bring her whole body just a little closer to his larger one, engulfing her size with his own.

"Gajeel…?" Came Levy's voice quietly. Her heart was thudding loudly and she could do nothing to hide the shiver that rocked through her at his sudden touch. Gajeel felt the movement move through her into him, but he didn't stop as his other arm came wrapping around the front of her now. He let it rest just across her abdomen, his hand fixing itself over her rib cage, just below her breast. He secured her against him protectively; she could feel his chest against the back of her shoulders now, her head automatically leaning back against him. His body was so large as it encased her, she couldn't help, but feel like he was swallowing her with it.

"What're you…?" She was questioning nervously, but she didn't move or try to fight him.

Now that he had secured his grip around her, his head was moving forward as his other hand lifted up from its spot on her stomach, only to move up so that he could brush some of the hair away from her ear. Now that he had cleared the strands, he began moving his freehand to the other side of her neck, his palm flushing against the softness of her creamy skin. His head came down just above her shoulder so that he could speak right into the exposed ear.

"I've got you right where I want you now." His voice was low. Levy felt her chest constrict at the feeling of his breath on the side of her face, his nose was pressing into her hair as his other hand moved up her neck to the other side of her head through her hair, caressing her. "How does it feel?" He asked her next, making Levy's eyes drag up lazily to her own reflection in the window, as she saw the way he had himself pushed up against her, his hands gently moving over her.

"Like I've gone from one monster's claws into another's…" She stated softly, watching him turn his head towards the window so that his red eyes were looking at the same reflection she was.

"Is that what you think?" He asked, the arm around her frame pressing into her some as he swayed it up and down over her stomach and ribs as if just trying to get a feel for all of her. His other hand was moving down from her head back to the side of her neck again, his large fingers just reaching the end of her cheek. Levy stayed silent, her eyelids lowering some as she felt the hand over her stomach creeping up higher, the top of his hand just grazing the bottom of her chest, where her bra started. "Levy?" His voice was almost like a wake up call as she could feel herself melting into his movements.

"You.." She began. "I don't know what to think of you anymore Gajeel…" She answered weakly as his hand glided over her neck up to the side of her cheek. He caressed it once with his thumb, before wrapping it under her chin. He gently pushed her face towards him so that he was looking right into her glazed over eyes with his own.

"You're always fightin' me… When will you learn that I'm not gonna fight back?" He asked. "I'm not going to force myself on you… That's not who I am, and when it comes to you…" He began, his face nearing hers. Levy could feel his finger running along under her chin, tickling her and making her angle her head up. "I don't think I need to." Gajeel said quietly as his mouth came just over hers hesitantly, giving her that chance to pull away, but Levy didn't budge and so his mouth crashed onto hers.

Levy felt her eyes going closed as his warm mouth fell over hers, his tongue plunging in, before she could even get a grip on what was happening. She let herself be taken over by him as he kissed her unmercifully, her body practically going limp as if she were water in his hands and it all felt amazing. His strong arm securing her in place, his large hand playing over her abdominal, his large frame towering over her making her feel safe. Her heart was soaring at his touch, even as his one hand slowly moved up rubbing over the bottom of her breast… _Wait… no! _

Levy's thoughts screamed, her eyes opening as she remembered where they were. Her head pulling away from him, his hand going to her shoulder as she jerked her chin out of his grasp. Her body jetting away from his, far away enough so that she could partially turn towards him. Her eyes large and full of shock that he had just kissed her and even more so that she had let him.

"I thought you were in pain?!" She stammered, her face red from what had just happened, her chest was heaving from the lack of air. Gajeel's eyes went to hers, his expression was very serious.

"Who says I'm not." He uttered reaching towards her again, but Levy held up a hand and stepped back away from him, making him freeze and look at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Gajeel!" She snapped. "Stop!" She demanded.

"Is that really what you want?" He asked getting angry himself. "Or are you just being stubborn'?"

"Just, because I agreed to help you, that doesn't mean I'm going to sleep with you." She explained, her voice upset. "Now, will you please just sit down!" She pleaded pointing to the bench across from them. Gajeel stared at her for a moment, his anger fading as he looked into her glossy eyes. Her expression looked deeply troubled and confused. His head looked over to the bench, before he looked back at her.

"Have it your way shrimp…" He began as he started to hobble back over towards the bench. "My leg is hurtin' again anyways…" He mumbled, as he slowly let his body fall back onto it. "Sittin is probably for the best." He finished as Levy watched him, sit down.

_Idiot…._ She was thinking in her head as she looked at him, _his pain never 'went away'_. She shot him an angry glare, her arms folding over her chest.

"That's why you should have let me take you to the hospital!" She snapped.

"Nah… I like this better." Gajeel replied smirking at her, making Levy roll her eyes at him.

"You're such an idiot…" She muttered under her breath.

"Maybe… But it was worth it, because now I know for sure." He stated eyeing her down, his smirk fading. Levy raised an eyebrow at him as if unimpressed by his words.

"What do you know exactly?" She questioned as if exasperated.

"Now I know you want me just as badly as I want you." He stated bluntly.

"For god sakes! Is that all you think about Gajeel?!" She exclaimed her arms going up in frustration with him.

"When I'm around you, yes. So you would really be doin' me a favor, by just givin' into temptation already." He replied folding his arms over his chest, scolding her like somehow it was her fault that he wanted her as badly as he did. Levy just found herself staring up at the roof of the car in annoyance once again at his behavior

"You're so romantic." She spoke, her tone dry and full of sarcasm.

"Hey, you should be flattered! Cause I can promise you I ain't ever been this desperate to get with a woman before." Gajeel snapped back, his tone drenched in frustration at the fact.

"Like I believe that." Levy answered disbelievingly. Gajeel shook his head as he still sat there with his arms folded, looking her up and down.

"You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I'm dead serious. You've taken residence up here." He said, pointing a finger to his own head. "Whether I like it or not and I don't foresee ya leavin' anytime soon Levy." He finished, his expression hard as he watched her intently. Levy paused her arms falling limply at her sides as she took a breath.

"Why…?! Why do you have to be so damn honest?" She asked desperately, wishing he had just kept this confession to himself.

"Because one of us oughta be." Gajeel answered bluntly.

"Well what am I supposed to do with this truth, Gajeel? Am I supposed to feel guilty or something? For what I've '_done_' to you? Am I supposed to just throw myself at you in pity?!" She cried out clearly outraged and upset, but what made it worst was Gajeel was suddenly laughing at her.

"Trust me if you and I ever have sex it won't be outta pity.." He jested with a grin before looking back up at her. "But… no shrimp." He added, all of his laughing had stopped. "Ya don't have to do anything ya don't wanna do." He replied his voice sincere.

"Then quit messing with my head…" Levy pleaded.

"Is that what ya think I'm tryin' to do?" He asked.

"I think… I think I just want to get this night over with…" She answered, turning away from him. Gajeel watched her, a studded brow raised. He wasn't trying to make her upset or confuse her. Hell, he hadn't even intended on confessing all the stuff he had to her, but it just came flying out of his mouth before he could stop it. Being around her just seem to make him do stupid things like that.

"Don't worry shrimp." He stated, making Levy glance over at him. "This night will be over before ya know it and all of this will just be a distant memory… I promise I won't let anything that's happened tonight get back to you." He said sincerely.

Levy searched over Gajeel with her large hazel eyes for a long time after he said this to her as he just looked back, a weak smile over his face and finally after a few minutes she found herself returning it.

"I think I know that much Gajeel…" She began softly. "You do always seem to protect me…" She continued, her eyes going downcast. "Thank you for that… But more importantly… Thank you for saving me tonight." She finished looking back up at him. "How is your pain?" She asked next.

"Eh… not too bad..." He answered patting his injured leg with one hand.

"Okay… good… Just sit tight a little longer. We're almost there." Levy replied her eyes going back to the window. Gajeel kept his eyes on her steadily; _I'll try too shrimp_. He thought as he found himself looking over her frame once again. _But ya don't make it easy… and now…_ He closed his eyes. _I gotta forget that kiss… _He thought as he brought a hand to his forehead, opening his eyes. _Fuckin' idiot…_ His brain scolded as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter was tough for me and I hope it flowed together okay, cause I know there's a lot of jumping around… Please do me a favor and tell me what you thought of it honestly in your reviews. From Lucy and Loke's parts with Cana, to Gajeel beating the shit out of Thibault and even the subway part as well! It took me so long and made me so tired that I didn't want to read over the whole thing as a whole and the way I wrote it was all choppy like. <strong>

**Thank you guys so much! I mean it, you guys were so great with your reviews! Ya all give me such great feedback on my writing and the stuff you say cracks me up! SO I just gotta thank you all for reading, for following, for favoring me and the story! THANK YOU!**

**Responses to my Reviewers****:**

**Saknicte: **I'm very happy that you were excited and I realllllly tried to get this chapter out sooner, but there was just too much too write and too much for me to do. So sorry about the wait I hope you enjoyed, no more cliffhangers this time! Thank you so much for your reading and even more for reviewing!

**Miri:**Yea I could understand your frustrations with Lucy and Levy, but I tried to make their actions make sense considering what the two of them know and don't know about Gajeel, also for plot reasons. Hopefully this chapter helped you with that twitching leg as Thibault definitely got what was coming to him. I'm happy you checked up on the story too and hope you liked this chapter! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

**Vamplady019:** Levy is definitely having a rough night, but hopefully Gajeel is there to make it better! And ya probably won't have to worry that much about Gajeel's wound getting in the way. And yes I shall be a theme that Gajeel is always honest with Levy- even brutally so. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

**Finny-Kun Goddess:** Yes, Gajeel is Levy's hero and for Lucy and Loke… I don't wanna tell! I hope you liked there parts in this chapter, thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

**Luana**: Wow thank you so much! I'm happy you love it and I hope you'll keep reading! Thank you so much for the review!

**Guest:**Ya don't know how thrilled I am to hear that you thought the dark scene was well written! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you either! Thanks so much for the feedback it means the world, sorry for the wait, I hope you will keep reading! Thanks for your review!

**Shizuka23:**Oh yea I shall always respond to all my reviews! And yes I picked that pic, because it fit the story and no I don't think I had it in the very beginning. And as for Thibault and the knife, my answer would be no, not really. He carries a knife like a lot of men do, but it's not meant for fighting. He just used it as a last resort as Gajeel terrified him. And I would have taken you up on the whole knife fighting research thing, if he had actually gotten to use it for longer than a minute… lol. I try to be realistic in most aspects of my writing so I often do look into how things are or how they should be when using them, so thank you for the offer! I'm glad my story helped you through your week, and it's funny you say, is she going to lock them in a elevator… No, but the one scene I feel is kinda similar to this aspect of it. I'm glad the almost rape scene played out for you as I intended, 'suspenseful' I guess would be word. Feedback on that scene is important to me, as I want to be sure it delivered the emotions it was supposed to. I hope Gajeel's scene with Thibualt didn't disappoint either! It's nice to know some people don't mind waiting by the way as I am a very busy person and I'm doing this all for my own enjoyment of writing and for the love of sharing my writing! Thank you so much, your reviews have been VERY helpful! Thank you even more for just reading and enjoying my writing as nothing makes me happier!

**Katyhyna: **Yea Levy woulda been in trouble if it weren't for Gajeel! I tried to update quickly, thank you for reviewing and I hope you will keep reading!

**Gildedcarouselhorses: **I'm right there with you on the Gajeel train ;P But yea… as much as I want that to be Gajeel and Levy, it just wouldn't make sense just yet… Or I at least don't want them doing it in the dirty bathroom of a club lol! And yes the idea is to question really if Gajeel is meant to be the monster or not, the answer isn't just a simple yes or no answer either. Thank you so much for your reviews and I hope you shall continue to read!


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